The Roads that Bind
by Reizbar-Ookami
Summary: Leon finds himself roped into traveling with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Well, he figures he's okay with that, because nothing bad has really happened to them yet. And then they land in the Coliseum, and they meet Cloud. And it all goes downhill from there.
1. Traverse Town I

Traverse Town I

"_**Squall? I think this is going to be the last time I speak to you."**_

"_**What? Why, what did I do wrong?"**_

"_**Nothing, Squall. I just don't think I'll survive the Time Compression."**_

"_**You will. You have to."**_

"_**Don't be silly, Squall. I just want you to know that I love you."**_

"_**But**_**—**_** Rinoa**_**—**_** Wait!"**_

"_**Goodbye, Squall. And **__don't__** be afraid to fall in love with anyone else. In fact, if you die without having loved someone else the way you've loved me, I will **__find__** you, and I will **__destroy your soul."_

"…_**But**_**—**_**"**_

"_**And I'll have someone watching out for you and being your matchmaker just in case! Bye, Squally!"**_

"_RINOA!"_

'…_Don't tell me Yuffie was the "someone" you were talking about,'_ Leon begged mentally, watching the self-proclaimed Great Ninja chattering at Cid, who simply continued with his gummi ship blueprints and nodded every once in a while, pretending he was listening.

Knowing Rinoa, he wouldn't put it past her. Sure, she loved him. …Which meant she had every right to tease him, damn.

"What do you think, Squall?" Yuffie asked, suddenly popping into the brunet's line of vision.

Leon blinked, then jerked back, scowling. "That's _Leon._"

"What do you think the wielder of the Keyblade will be like?" Yuffie continued, as if not hearing him.

'_You heard me, you little brat. And you're __**ignoring**__ it,'_ he thought bitterly, putting on his passive mask.

"I'm thinking he'll be tall, and strong, and have dark hair. …Oh, and his hair will be spiky. All guys carrying big swords should have spiky hair," she added, frowning thoughtfully.

Leon raised an eyebrow and glanced up at his hair. "Spiky?"

Yuffie laughed and waved it away. "Oh, I mean except _you,_ Leon! You wouldn't look good with spiky hair! You look sexy just the way you are!"

"…Thanks," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Glad I'm an afterthought."

"Oh, don't be silly, Squall!" she giggled, clapping her hands together innocently. "You're never an afterthought! I'm _constantly_ cooking up plots to get you a boyfriend!"

Leon sighed. "It's _Leon,_ number one. Number two, I'm _straight._ As in, I like girls. _Girls._ The people that have the same kind of anatomy as you?"

Yuffie laughed and waved it away again, as if she knew better. "Oh, silly, _silly_ Leon! We both know you're gay! Don't be shy!"

Cid sighed, finally taking pity on the brunet as he opened his mouth to continue arguing. "Let it go while you still have some dignity, Leon. Let her have her delusions. She enjoys it. Besides, you arguing will just make her pushier."

Leon sighed and closed his mouth, then stood up. "Whatever. I'm going for a walk."

"Be careful! Don't get any more scars unless they're going to look just as sexy as the one on your face!" Yuffie called after him, waving, before bouncing back over to bother Cid.

Leon rolled his eyes as soon as he shut the door behind him, then started walking, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the ninja as possible. He wouldn't deny that the girl was a great ninja. He'd seen her take on Heartless. He _knew._ And God save anyone who didn't.

Deciding he didn't want to go back in and endure the ninja just yet (if she still, in fact, _was_ in Cid's accessory shop), he leaned against the corner of the building and sighed. Aerith had mentioned that she'd seen the Keyblade wielder; it was a scrawny, spiky-haired kid. Well, Yuffie was at least right about the spiky-haired part. Good for her.

As the teen wandered out of Cid's shop, Leon sighed, feeling that the poor boy had been cheated of his childhood. "They'll come at you out of nowhere," he warned, frowning.

The scrawny teenager spun toward him, blue eyes wide in surprise. Regarding him warily, he asked, "Who are you?"

Leon sighed and walked toward him, shaking his head in frustration. "And they'll keep coming at you, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade. But why? Why would it choose a kid like you?"

The teen scowled. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Leon sighed again. "Never mind. Now, let me see that Keyblade," he ordered, taking a few steps closer.

"What?" The teen scowled again. "There's no way you're getting this!" he stated, getting in a battle stance.

Leon rolled his eyes, then grabbed his gunblade, also getting in battle stance. "All right then. Have it your way."

The clash, needless to say, did not last long. Leon, having more experience, was far superior in battle to the teen, who'd probably only just acquired his weapon. In fact, he had to hold himself back for fear of seriously injuring the teen. Seriously! Did that kid not understand when to give up?!

Watching the teen faint from exhaustion, he sighed. "Stupid kid…"

"Aw, you're slipping, Leon," Yuffie commented, smiling and placing her hands on her hips.

Leon sent her a dirty look. "I went easy on him. Looks like things are worse than we thought." He sighed bitterly. "A lot worse."

"Where should we take him?" she asked, squatting down and poking the unconscious wielder of the Keyblade. "We can't just leave him here."

"Of course we can't," Leon answered, sighing in agitation as he walked over and lifted the teen easily. "We'll take him to the hotel and wait for him to wake up."

"Oh, Squally!" The ninja grinned. "I didn't think you cared!"

"That's _Leon,_" he snapped, and he swore that if he wasn't the Ice Prince everyone called him, he would have throttled her. "Grab the Keyblade."

"Psh, you don't have to be so bossy," she muttered, but did as she was told.

-x-x-x-

"_**Squall, get up!" Rinoa giggled. "Sometimes you're just so lazy!"**_

_**Squall refused to dignify that with an answer, instead choosing to roll over so his back was facing her. When he realized that she wouldn't leave just because of that, he pulled his covers over his head as well.**_

_**She huffed and crossed her arms. "Squall, sometimes you just infuriate me!" With that, she turned and stalked out of the room.**_

_**Squall smirked. "That's because it's so easy."**_

_**When she returned an hour later, her tone was joking, but he knew that inside her words was a hidden threat, daring him to ignore her any longer. "Come on, lazy bum. Wake up!"**_

Leon blinked his eyes open slowly, disoriented, then groaned and rolled his eyes as he realized it had been Yuffie who'd spoken the last words. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and sighed. _'I'm going insane… Yuffie and Rinoa are __**nothing**__ alike! …Okay, that's just a lie to make myself feel better, but __**still!**__'_

Yuffie leaned down toward the Keyblade wielder as he groaned and rubbed his head. "You okay?"

The teen nodded slightly. "I guess…"

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade. But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade," she explained, causing Leon to smile. He didn't have to tell her to explain. Smart girl.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Kairi," they teen stated in response, smiling.

"Kairi? Who are you talking about?" she asked in confusion, frowning a little. "_I'm_ the great ninja Yuffie."

The teen blinked at her in confusion. "Huh?"

Yuffie looked back at Leon and frowned. "I think you may have overdone it, Squall."

He sighed loudly. "That's _Leon._"

The teen turned his gaze on the Keyblade, frowning. "…The Keyblade…"

"Yeah," the ninja agreed, nodding. "We had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures." She smiled. "It turns out, _that's_ how they were tracking you!"

Leon nodded in agreement. "It was the only way to conceal your heart from them. But it won't work for long." He sighed and stood up from leaning against the wall, then walked over to the Keyblade. "Still hard to believe that _you_ of all people are the chosen one." He grabbed the Keyblade. It disappeared from his hand and showed up in the teen's. "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers. What's your name?"

The teen seemed to be getting frustrated. "Why don't you start making sense! What's going on here?" He paused, then as an afterthought answered, "And my name's Sora!"

Yuffie shifted her weight from foot to foot nervously, then looked over at Leon. "Maybe you better explain, Leon. I'm no good at explaining things."

Leon rolled his eyes. "Tch, you've got that right."

"Hey!" she exclaimed indignantly, planting her fists on her hips. "That's not nice!"

"You said it first, not me," he replied, leaning against the wall again. He turned his gaze on the Keyblade wielder. "There's something you need to understand. There's more than just your world. There are many worlds. Every star you see? That's a different world."

"Every star?" Sora asked softly.

"Every star," Leon repeated, nodding. "They've been a secret because they've never been connected, until now. When the Heartless came, everything changed."

"The Heartless?"

"The ones that attacked you, remember?" Yuffie reminded him, tilting her head a little.

The gunblader nodded his agreement and explained, "Those without hearts. The darkness in people's hearts—that's what attracts them. And there is darkness within every heart." He frowned slightly. _'…Except hers…'_

Sensing Leon's impending 'melancholy mood,' as she had dubbed it, Yuffie quickly turned to Sora and asked, "Hey, have you heard of someone named 'Ansem?'"

"Ansem?" the teen repeated, frowning, then shook his head. "No. What about him?"

"He was studying the Heartless!" the ninja explained. "He recorded everything he found out in some reports—"

"Very _detailed_ reports," Leon added.

"—And its pages were scattered everywhere!" Yuffie finished, as if she hadn't just been interrupted.

"And only the Key can get you from world to world," the gunblade wielder stated, nodding at the key in the boy's hands.

"So… this is the key?" Sora asked, holding it up and tilting his head.

"Exactly!" Yuffie exclaimed, smiling at him.

Leon sighed. "The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade. That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what."

Sora frowned. "Well, I didn't ask for this."

The ninja shrugged carelessly. "The Keyblade chooses its master. And it chose you!"

"So, tough luck," Leon added, standing up straight and waving it away. "It's always a shock when your world gets sucked out from under you."

"How did all of this happen?" Sora asked softly, brows furrowing together. "I remember being in my room…" Leon felt his heart twinge as a look of panic crossed the boy's face. "Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island? Riku! Kairi!"

He sighed and shook his head. "You know what? I really don't know."

"But…" Sora sighed quietly as his face fell in despair. "But… my friends…"

"Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you," Leon stated, catching the boy's attention again. "You'd best prepare yourself."

The Keyblade wielder tilted his head. "Prepare myself?"

The older brunet nodded slightly. "To fight for your life. Are you ready?"

Sora looked down at his feet, frowning slightly, then stood up, pure determination in place of sadness. "I'm ready!"

Leon smiled a little but quickly hid it and turned toward the door. "Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors."

"Leon!" the ninja cried, pointing toward the center of the room.

Leon turned sharply, holding Lion Heart up in an offensive stance to find a Knight standing in the middle of the room. He turned a pointed look at Yuffie. "Yuffie, go!"

She didn't need to be told twice. "Good luck, guys!" she exclaimed, running out the door quickly.

The gunblader glanced at Sora and nodded. "Sora, let's go!"

"Okay!" the teen replied, readying his Keyblade.

Leon took the two steps forward to close the space between himself and the Soldier and hit it with the flat of the blade. It went soaring out the window. He rolled his eyes and sighed. _'Damn, that's gonna cost me extra.'_ Knowing he couldn't just let the Heartless get away, he sprang out the window after it. _'But the Heartless will pay for it,'_ he added mentally, smirking as he remembered the amount of munny the Heartless always left behind.

When Sora landed and next to him, he spared him only a glance. "Don't bother will the small fry. Find the leader. Let's go!"

And with that, they went at the Heartless around them. When Leon next turned, he momentarily panicked when he found the teen nowhere in sight. _'Oh, shit!'_ He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, easily slicing through a Soldier as it jumped at him thoughtlessly. _'That kid's gonna be the death of me, I just know it.'_

"Leon, this way!" Yuffie exclaimed, capturing his attention.

The older man turned in surprise, then ran after her, knowing that somehow she was sure of where the teen would be. It freaked him out sometimes, though. She was like… psychic. It was annoying, and when you wanted to be alone, your senses had to be better than hers, so you could run away.

Because you _had_ to run away if Yuffie was following you and you wanted to be alone.

Finding the teen in the middle of Third District, he couldn't help but sigh in relief. And seeing on each of the teen's sides what _had_ to be the King's attendants— …Good heavens, what were they? A duck and a dog? Well, the Keyblade wielder was a teenager…

Oh brother, what a team they made.

"So, you were looking for me?" Sora asked the two in confusion.

They both nodded. "Uh huh."

"They, too, have been searching for the wielder of the Keyblade," Leon stated, nodding at them as he crossed his arms.

The dog turned to Sora, nodding as well. "Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

For some reason, the word 'vessel' coming out of the dog's mouth was hilarious. Leon laughed in his head but kept his passive mask on.

The teen frowned. "I wonder if I can find Riku and Kairi…"

"Of course!" the duck replied instantly.

Leon raised an eyebrow. Sure, Sora's friends _could_ be on a different world, but the probability of that— …He'd best keep that to himself. Needing to raise the teen's spirits, he ordered, "Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."

"Yeah, I guess," Sora sighed, frowning.

"But you can't come looking like that," the duck stated. "Understand? No frowning. No sad face."

"Yeah! Ya gotta look funny, like us!" the dog added, smiling.

The duck nodded. "This boat runs on happy faces!"

_Pft._ Happy faces. Leon almost snorted.

"Happy?" the teen questioned, sighing again. When he lifted his head, however, he had the cheesiest grin.

Leon could have _died._ But of course, he's Leon. He would not show his amusement. …Well, okay, so he snorted, but no one noticed!

The dog laughed. "That's one funny face!"

Sora grinned. "Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys!"

The duck offered his hand up. "Donald Duck!"

"Name's Goofy," the dog added, placing his hand on top of Donald's.

"I'm Sora," the teen replied, smiling, as he rested his hand on top of Goofy's.

Goofy smiled. "All for one, one for all."

Agh, if he watched any longer, he was going to smile. Leon turned to leave.

"Oh, Leon, wait!"

…Would God never love him?

Sora ran up to him and pulled on his arm pleadingly. "Come with us! Please?"

Leon felt his eye twitch. Damn those puppy eyes. _Damn them._ "No."

"He's right, Sora," Yuffie sighed, patting the teen on the arm. She then grinned. "The ship would never be able to fly with a sour face like Leon's!"

"Oh, I'm sure I could be happy enough for both of us!" the Keyblade wielder replied, smiling at her, before once again turning puppy eyes on the man. "_Please,_ Leon?"

"He can't come!" Donald exclaimed, hopping up and down. "We've got enough people!"

"But Leon can help!" Sora exclaimed, turning toward the irate duck. "He's probably been fighting for _years!_ He could help me train with my Keyblade as we go along!"

Leon could only describe the feeling building in him as horror. Horror and anxiety.

"Well…" Donald was beginning to concede.

"Hey! He probably knows a lot about the Keyblade that he can tell Sora, too!" Goofy added.

Lightning strike him now.

"…Fine," Donald sighed. "He can come."

"Yay!" Sora hugged the older brunet happily. "Leon's coming!"

"Come on. We should go stalk up on potions," Donald ordered, walking toward First District.

Leon mouthed at the place the trio had been standing wordlessly. "I… But… What?"

"Looks like you're stuck traveling with them," Aerith stated, smiling at him.

Yuffie absolutely _cackled._ "Leon's going on a trip! Leon's going on a trip!"

"…I'm going to kill you," he stated, grabbing Lion Heart again as he walked toward her. She let out a squeal and sprinted for First District as well. "Where do you think you're going?!" Leon exclaimed, scowling, then turned to Aerith with a small smile. "That should get rid of her for a few minutes, right?"

The healer smiled back at him. "Long enough for you to escort me to Cid's shop," she answered. "Then you can meet up with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. At least you can make sure that nothing happens to them, right?"

"The silver lining," he sighed, rolling his eyes. "Alright. I'll go. …But only because I don't want them to get hurt."

"Not because you really want to go look at other worlds?" she asked, smiling knowingly.

"_No,_" he replied, scowling at her.

_So, yeah, Leon has somehow found himself traveling with Sora, Donald and Goofy. And there will be lots of suffering. XD At least on Leon's part. Because we all know how __**blissfully**__ unaware Sora and Donald are, and if Goofy __**does**__ notice, he's not gonna say anything. Feedback is always appreciated, yo!_


	2. Wonderland: Into the Rabbit Hole

Wonderland: Into the Rabbit Hole

'_...This is okay...'_ Leon glanced around the small driving compartment of the gummi ship somewhat anxiously. _'No Heartless, no enemies whatsoever. It's... safe.'_

"Crap, I missed one!"

The ship jerked as a laser hit it, but it held together, because the Heartless attacking it were weak.

_'...Well, it's as safe as it can be with Sora shooting down enemy ships.'_

The trip so far had been fairly pleasant, barring the few times the ship got hit by enemy lasers. In fact, it was rather enjoyable. There was nothing to worry about, no Yuffie to annoy him, no—

"Hey, what's that!?" Sora exclaimed, moving to look out the windshield. "Is that a different world?"

Leon stood up and gazed out the windshield as well. "Looks like it. Are we going to land?"

"Of course!" Donald exclaimed, as if appalled he would have to ask. "The king could be down there!"

"Don't need to yell," the gunblader muttered, scowling at him, before returning to his seat. "Swear to God that duck's got a temper worse than Cid's."

Sora plopped down in the seat beside him, humming anxiously as they waited to land. He turned to Leon and tilted his head. "Hey, Leon, do you have any friends or family you're searching for?"

Leon turned his head to frown at him slowly. "...No. I gave up hope nine years ago."

The teen's eyes widened. "Your world was destroyed nine years ago?!"

"It was over nine years ago."

"...And you aren't searching for anyone?"

Leon smiled bitterly. "What is there to search for? I had nothing on my world. You met my family; Cid, Aerith, and Yuffie."

Sora tilted his head and nodded slightly, then asked, "So if you had to assign family roles to them, what would you call your relationship to them?"

"...Well—" the older man began, then sat up straight as the gummi ship touched down on the ground. "Tell you after we explore a little. You want to find your friends, right?"

"Yeah!" the teen exclaimed, then darted outside.

Leon sighed in relief. _'You dodged a bullet on that one, Leon.'_

Truth be told, he didn't know _what_ to call his ragtag family. He'd admit they were a family, but he couldn't say how. Aerith had taken care of him when she found him, scared and alone, in the back alley behind the hotel. He'd been twelve at the time. She'd been fourteen. It was only two year's difference, but she'd matured more than any fourteen-year-old should have. She'd brought him 'home' with her.

Cid hadn't been happy, but he accepted it, because a twelve-year-old boy shouldn't have eyes as terrified and haunted as his were. Yuffie had been happy to have an addition to the family; someone new to baby-sit her instead of grumpy old Cid! ...Of course, since Aerith had taken full responsibility for him, he'd stayed in the kitchen with her until he turned sixteen, when he'd found his gunblade in the weapon's shop and had worked for Cid to earn the munny to buy it.

"Hey, Leon! Come look at this hole!"

Leon turned his head sharply to see the teen gazing down into a large, gaping hole in the ground. "...Okay... It's a hole," he stated, raising an eyebrow as he ambled over. "What about it?"

"But it's so big, and it goes so deep!" Sora exclaimed, leaning a little further forward to see if he could see the bottom.

The gunblader let out a _very_ unmanly squeak as the teen lost his balance and began to tumble in, grabbing onto the back of his jacket frantically. "Sora!"

Of course, he hadn't a chance to have time to keep _himself_ from going over the edge as well. He felt a feathered hand grab his jacket as well before they all fell into the hole. He swore that if he didn't die from a heart attack, he'd kill Sora.

"...This is a deep hole," Sora stated, nodding slightly. "I wonder if the white rabbit's hit the bottom yet..."

"What white rabbit?" Leon asked irritably.

The teen smiled. "The white rabbit I saw wearing a little red jacket and carrying a big gold pocket watch!"

_...Imminent death for Sora._

"Why'd you have to follow it?!" Donald asked irately. "Now we're falling down a hole for who knows _how long—_"

"Oh, hey, look! Ground!" Sora exclaimed, blissfully unaware that he was being scolded.

The two irritated companions looked down to see that there was, indeed, ground looming toward them. Leon sighed and slapped his hand over his face tiredly. _'Leave it to Sora.'_ He glanced over at Goofy as he landed gracefully and couldn't help but smile as he fell to the ground and was forced to wake up. _'Maybe we should relax like Goofy. He seems to have the right idea.'_

"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" The party of four turned their heads in confusion to see a white rabbit in a red jacket, glasses, and carrying a pocket watch run past. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

There was a moment's pause before Leon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let me guess. It was _that_ white rabbit."

"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed, then started after it. "Come on!"

"...Well, we've got nothing better to do," Leon muttered, glancing at Donald, who just sighed and began after the teen as well.

The room they arrived in was... _normal,_ at least in all appearances. Except for the tiny door into which a now very tiny rabbit was fleeing into. The door slammed shut after him. They all gathered around the door, frowning in puzzlement.

"How did he get so small?" Sora asked, obviously irked that he could no longer follow the rabbit that had drawn his attention in the first place.

The doorknob yawned and opened its eyes, glaring at them slightly. "No, you're simply too big."

Everyone took a step back. "It talks!" Donald squawked, alarmed.

"Must you be so loud? You woke me up!" the doorknob replied, obviously miffed.

Goofy, ever the polite one, smiled cheerfully. "Good morning!"

"Good night!" The doorknob yawned and sent them one last glare before closing his eyes again. "I need a bit more sleep."

Sora crawled down to be face to face—er, face to knob—with the doorknob quickly. "Wait! What do we have to do to grow small?"

_'Oxymoronic sentence if I've ever heard one,'_ Leon thought absently.

"Why don't you try the bottle—" The doorknob yawned again. "—Over there?"

They all turned in confusion to see a table pop up from the floor. Leon sighed and sat down on the bed behind him heavily. "God, could this world get anymore—shit!" The bed disappeared into the wall only seconds after he sat on it, leaving him on the ground.

Sora snorted but decided it was in his best interest not to comment on it, instead wandering over to the table and looking at the bottles. "This blue one says 'drink me.'" He smiled brightly. "So I will!"

"Sora, no-!" Leon began, only to watch in horror as the boy took a large gulp.

The teen set the bottle back on the table and frowned. "...I don't get it. Nothing's happen—" And then, in a burst of smoke, he found himself on the ground at only a fraction of his size.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to eat or drink anything when you don't know what it is?!" Leon exclaimed, scowling at him.

"Well it got me down to the right size, didn't it?!" Sora called up to him. "Hurry up and drink some so we can go!"

Donald muttered a string of curses that _certainly_ wouldn't be considered Sora-friendly but drank some of the blue stuff anyway. Leon raised an eyebrow in surprise. He didn't know the duck had it in him. He was the last one to drink the blue liquid, and reluctantly so, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy hadn't died yet, so he trusted it to be safe.

Once down to a suitable size, Leon sighed and looked around to get his bearings. "...I don't want to deal with that stupid doorknob again. Let's go through there," he ordered, pointing toward the doorway that had been hidden beneath the bed. "We'll make it to where the rabbit is eventually."

"Yay! Optimism from someone besides me!" Sora exclaimed happily, flailing his arms above his head, before sprinting toward the door.

"...Do we really have to run...?" the older brunet asked softly, frowning, then sighed again and began to trudge after him. "We'll catch up eventually."

"Who knows how much trouble he can get into by the time 'eventually' comes?" Donald grumbled. "I mean, he's the one that got us down here in the first place."

Leon slapped a hand over his face. "Shit, I forgot about that. Guess we better catch up to him."

The duck grumbled some more but began to waddle faster, just knowing that if Sora was unattended to for long, he'd probably get into lots of mischief.

When he found Sora, he was just about to smack him in the head and shake him silly, but he quickly grabbed the older man's arm and shushed him. "Leon, look! They've got this girl that can't be any older than me on _trial!_"

"Trial?" Leon repeated in confusion, moving to see what was going on.

"Her majesty, the Queen of Hearts, residing!" the rabbit exclaimed, making everyone draw their attention to the rather large woman sitting in a throne overlooking the proceeding.

"The girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it," the queen stated decisively. "And the reason is... because I say so, that's why!"

The girl huffed and crossed her arms. "That is so unfair!"

Seeming to feel a little compassion, the queen asked, "Well, have you anything to say in your defense?"

"Of course!" the girl exclaimed, unfolding her arms. "I've done absolutely nothing wrong! You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so... so mean!"

"Silence!" the queen screamed, making everyone (except the cards) flinch. "You dare defy me?"

"Hey, guys, we should help her out," Sora whispered, making Leon unconsciously nod in agreement.

"Yeah, but the—" Donald started, only to have Goofy cut him off.

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?"

"'Meddling!'" Donald corrected, holding a finger up in the dog's face.

Goofy chuckled at his mistake. "Oh, yeah. And that's against the rules."

Leon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well we can't just let them convict her. She hasn't gotten a chance to defend herself at all!"

"Hey, hey, she's making her ruling!" Sora exclaimed, drawing their attention back to the queen.

The queen sat up straighter to make herself seem more imposing and stately. "The court finds the defendant..." Everyone held their breath. "Guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart—" The queen turned to his card knights. "—Off with her head!"

The girl gasped. "No! No! Oh, please!"

Sora could no longer stand by and watch. Rushing forward, he exclaimed, "Hold it right there!"

The queen was highly disgruntled by his interference. "Who are you? How dare you interfere with my court?"

The Keyblade wielder sighed, as if exasperated, but quickly hid it from the queen. "Excuse me, but we know who the _real_ culprit is!"

"Uh huh," Goofy agreed, nodding. "It's the Heartle—"

Leon reached over and slapped a hand over his mouth before he could continue, shaking his head slightly. "They don't know about the Heartless."

Sora blinked up at him innocently, then turned back to the court. "Anyway, she's not the one you're looking for."

The queen waved it away. "That's nonsense. Have you any proof?"

Leon scowled as his three companions turned to him. "What are you looking at me for?!"

"You're the one with more experience, think of something!" Sora answered, frowning at him.

"I am _not_ a miracle worker!" the elder brunet exclaimed, gripping his hands into fists. "Do I look like a miracle worker?!"

"Well, no, but—"

The queen, seeming to grow impatient with their bickering, sighed. "Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence! Fail and it's off with your heads!"

Leon glared at Sora, Donald, and Goofy upon hearing this. _'I swear to God if I get my head chopped off—'_

"Gather as much or as little evidence as you please," the queen continued. "Report back here when you're ready."

"Okay!" Sora answered cheerfully, then led the way past a wooden sign.

Leon paused to glance at the sign, then frowned and stopped. "'The Lotus Forest?' How big is the Lotus Forest? Can we get lost?" He turned and looked after his companions. "Hey. Hey! Are you guys _listening_ to me?!" When they still failed to pay attention to him, he stomped after them, muttering obscenities and something about the worlds being utterly and absolutely doomed.

Once he caught up to them, he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Alright, Sora. Where are we going to find evidence?"

The teen frowned and placed his hands behind his head. "Well, I'm not sure. I don't even know _how_ to find evidence."

The gunblade wielder was seriously contemplating the best way to gut him when a large, pink- and purple-striped cat appeared above them. Sora decided the strange-looking cat deserved his attention more than Leon did.

"Hey! Who're you?" he asked.

_'As if cats can __**talk,**__'_ Leon thought, rolling his eyes.

"Who, indeed?" the cat replied. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

As he ogled at the cat that actually _could_ speak, Sora seemed unfazed by this and tilted his head. "Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!"

"I doubt he's going to give us a straight answer, considering all of the crap we've been through already, what with falling through a rabbit hole and seeing a bunch of cards lock a little girl in a bird cage," Leon drawled, pinching the bridge of his nose. _'God, I haven't been with them for an entire day, and I'm getting more stressed out than I've __**ever**__ been with Yuffie.'_

The cat nodded, showing that he was indeed correct. "The Cheshire Cat has all the answers—but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lay in darkness." At this, the cat disappeared from sight.

"Hey, wait!" Sora exclaimed, miffed.

Though clearly unable to be seen, the Cheshire Cat answered. "They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all."

"Should we trust him?" Donald asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes as he glanced at where the cat had once been.

"To trust, or not to trust? I trust you'll decide!" the cat replied, before they all distinctly felt as if he were gone.

"...He and Yuffie would get along well," was Leon's only comment, before he began wandering away from the group. "Well, if we're going to find evidence, we're going to have to start looking for it."

_'God forbid that Yuffie and that cat ever meet. What a character.'_


	3. Wonderland: The Trickmaster

Wonderland: The Trickmaster

'_...I did nothing to deserve this.'_

Leon wasn't in a very good mood. So they'd gone through all of the trouble to find the evidence—four freaking pieces of it!—and the queen decided that _no,_ they were going to pick _one_ piece of evidence and present it, because checking _all_ of them would be a waste of time. Then she had the _audacity_ of mixing up her box among all of the other boxes. Luckily, Sora had chosen the correct box, showing the _real_ culprit to be a Heartless. Then she'd spouted some utter _stupidity_ and said that anyone that defies The Queen was guilty anyway, so really, there had been no point in gathering the evidence in the first place! Then they had to fight a freaking deck of cards and break a Crank Tower to get to Alice, which wouldn't have been so hard if the other three weren't constantly within danger of his gunblade. _Honestly!_

...Leon's bad mood was clearly justified.

Finally growing annoyed and frustrated beyond belief and just wanting to _destroy_ something, he growled and shoved a few cards away that had gotten too close. "_MOVE!_" Sora, Donald, and Goofy were surprisingly compliant, immediately shrinking away from him. He let out a snarl and began smashing the Crank Tower.

When it was left in pieces and the cage holding Alice fell back to the ground, he felt immensely relieved. If he hadn't been a stoic man, he would have laughed a little. That was, until, he saw that the cage Alice was in didn't actually _have_ her.

"...Are you serious?"

The Queen of Hearts was obviously less than pleased. "What! Where could she have gone! Find her now, or it's off with your heads!" she shouted at the cards, making them scatter before disappearing to various parts of the world to search for the little blonde.

"She must have gotten kidnapped while we were fighting," Donald stated, frowning.

"Let's get lost before she sicks those stupid cards on us again," Leon muttered, leading the way back toward the Lotus Forest.

Sora followed him, frowning as well. "We're going to look for Alice too, aren't we, Leon?"

"Where would we start? We have no idea where she could be. Besides, if someone's kidnapped her, I doubt she's still on this world."

"My, my. What a glass-half-empty outlook!" The quartet turned in surprise to see the Cheshire Cat perched on a branch, grinning his Cheshire grin a them. Leon chose not to answer him; he refused to have a conversation with someone that had the attention span of Yuffie and was not specifically Yuffie.

"Have you seen Alice?" Sora asked quickly, his concern for the girl growing.

The feline tilted his head, grin still in place. "Alice, no. Shadows, yes!"

Goofy tilted his head as they all made the connection in their minds that the Shadows had to do with Alice's disappearance. "Where did they go?"

For some reason, Leon knew that nothing helpful would come from the feline. He was not disappointed.

"This way? That way? Does it matter? Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the Shadows!" the Cheshire Cat replied, heaving a dramatic sigh. His grin was still in place. "Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside-down room!"

Ah, so he'd been proven wrong. _'He's useful after all.'_

"Can't you stop speaking in rhymes and riddles?" Sora complained, just before the cat disappeared from view. "Hey! I wasn't finished talking to you!"

"...I don't think he cares," Donald replied, before leading the way deeper into the forest.

"Gawrsh, I wonder how he disappears and reappears like that?" Goofy asked, frowning in thought, but followed him nonetheless.

Leon sighed, frowning. _'He has a valid point. ...I blame it on the insanity of this world. The cat's insane, the queen's insane, the freaking __**flowers**__ are insane.'_ He paused in thought, then mentally added, _'Sora, Donald, and Goofy are insane, too, for getting me stuck in this mess and in this __**world.**__'_

Though this was not completely fair, the brunet's feelings were clearly justified when they found themselves in the bizarre room again, but the bizarre room appeared more bizarre because everything was _upside-down._

The Cheshire Cat decided to make his entrance again, grinning his (what Leon now considered annoying) Cheshire grin. "They're hiding somewhere. Want to find the shadows?"

"_Yes,_ so tell us where they are!" Sora exclaimed, growing impatient. Leon didn't blame him.

"Patience, my spiky-haired friend, is a virtue," the cat stated, sniffing in mock-offense. "If you want to find the shadows, try turning on the lights."

Leon frowned, knowing that what the cat had said was logical but refusing to believe that it was that easy, considering the cat had said it. "...Sounds simple enough..."

"Don't be so pessimistic! Why would the kitty want to hurt us?" Sora asked, elbowing the older brunet in the side playfully and either ignoring or missing completely the Cheshire Cat's 

indignant squawk at being called a 'kitty.' "Let's just turn on some lights and see the shadows that took Alice!"

"...Fine. But I don't trust that cat!" Leon replied, following him over to one of the lamps and casting fire on it to brighten up the room.

"It's too dim," the Cheshire Cat pointed out. "Make it brighter!"

Leon glanced at his gunblade. Sure, he couldn't _reach_ the cat, but a well-aimed bullet—

"_Absolutely not,_" Sora ordered, as if reading the older man's mind, his hands placed on his hips. "_Leon,_ be _serious!_ We need to find Alice!"

The older brunet did not point out that he was completely serious about shooting the cat as Donald and Goofy led the way to the next light. This one he let Sora light; he needed the practice with his magic. That, and watching Donald and Goofy running around when the Keyblade master missed the first few times to avoid being hit by the flames was totally worth being dragged along on this stupid adventure.

The Cheshire Cat decided to make his presence known again. "One more lamp that you need to light," he informed them, and Leon was beginning to wonder if that cat. Ever. Frowned.

Deciding he didn't want to move, and that the lamp was close enough to the cat to give it a good scare, Leon reached his hand out and sent fire at the third and final lamp. The cat winced slightly as the lamp burst to life, but to Leon's consternation, his grin stayed in place. "Do you _ever_ fucking _frown!?_" he exclaimed, glaring at the cat.

"All the lights are on," the cat pointed out, closing his eyes in glee at the gunblade wielder's frustration. "You'll see the shadows soon. It's not guaranteed that they'll rise up in _this_ room, however." His grin seemed to grow at that. "The shadows might go after that doorknob, too."

"Well if the shadows aren't going to show up where we are, why are we still here?" Donald asked irately, leading the way from the room back to the _original_ and _slightly normal_ bizarre room.

And, like some sort of little annoying fairy-god-cat, the Cheshire cat appeared on top of the table. "You'll have a better view from higher up," he commented, and Leon had to admit, the cat spoke sense this time.

They made their ways over to the chair next to the table. Leon gave Sora a help up (though the teen _swore_ he could have gotten up by himself) and Goofy grabbed Donald to help him up. This was followed by Donald yelling and shouting and, as soon as he was up on the chair, jumping up and down in his fury. Leon and Goofy decided to ignore him as they climbed up as well.

Once on the table, Sora bounded over to the edge near the cat, placing his hand over his eyes to shield them from the light and looking around expectantly. "So where are the shadows?"

"The shadows should be here soon," the Cheshire Cat replied. "Are you prepared for the worst?"

"What's the worst that could happen?" Goofy asked, making the Cheshire Cat blink at him before sighing.

"Apparently not. Well, if you're really not prepared for the worst, too bad!" And he disappeared, flashing one last Cheshire grin at them and pointing upward.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Donald asked worriedly.

Leon looked up in confusion, wondering just what the cat was pointing to, and couldn't help a gasp of surprise as he immediately grabbed Lion Heart. "_Shit!_"

The giant Heartless that looked annoyingly like some sort of _warped_ court jester fell from the ceiling, making the ground shake. He bounced to the other side of the room, jumping over the table completely, and making the ground shake again. Springing into action quickly, because the other three were obviously still too stunned from the Trickmaster's sudden appearance, Leon leapt off of the table and tried to cleave the Heartless in two, hoping it would be just as weak as all of the other Heartless he'd ever encountered.

Unfortunately, life would never be so easy on him. The Trickmaster deflected his attack with one of his bowling pins—a fucking _bowling pin!_—and went to smash him with the other. He parried and began slashing at its _damnably_ bouncy legs, but that didn't seem to be doing much good. Taking his eyes from the Heartless for only a second, he glanced up at the table. "Attack its body! Attacking his legs isn't doing anything!"

He could see the others hesitate, but thank God they trusted him—the experienced fighter—and did as told. They didn't really do much damage the first round, but he wasn't really expecting them to. Donald's magic wasn't exactly the strongest—not that his was, either; Aerith held that place with an iron control almost as good as Merlin's—and Goofy was just beating it with his shield. Luckily, Sora did a little more damage than the other two. Unluckily, they were stuck on the ground with him now, in danger of being hit and unable to hit the Heartless back.

...Sora looked light enough. "Hey, Sora, come here," he ordered, and the teen ducked and dodged his way over to him.

"What?"

"On the count of three, I'm going to throw you at it." He was expecting maybe a _little_ trepidation or hesitance from the Keyblade wielder.

Instead, all he got was a cheerful, "Okay! Sounds cool!"

Leon could only send him a stunned stare. "...Your idea of 'cool' frightens me."

"Are you going to throw me or what?" Sora asked impatiently, scowling at him.

"...Whatever," he sighed, grabbing the teen around the waist and slinging him upward toward the Trickmaster. "Huh. Heavier than I thought," he muttered, returning to his distraction of the Trickmaster so it wouldn't turn its killer bowling pins—it was attacking them with fucking _bowling pins!_—on Sora.

They continued this system of battle for a good few minutes; Sora and Donald attacking and Goofy and Leon defending/distracting. It helped that Leon knew the spell cure. He was certain that if he hadn't used it as much as he had, they'd be having a bit of trouble right now, what with the time it takes to actually consume a potion and then the time added to _that_ for it to actually start working.

He should have made them get hi-potions. Potions don't do squat unless you have the time to wait for your stamina to be restored. He'd need to point that out to them—

"OH MY GOD!" he yelped, ducking to the side, as a ball of fire went soaring right where he'd been a second beforehand.

...And he'd have to find a spot in the next world where Sora could _practice_ the aim of his spells for a little while.

Sora gave the Trickmaster three more hits, and then it was down and out, its large, crystalline heart floating up into the air and to, Leon assumed, the place hearts go to when Heartless are destroyed: Kingdom Hearts.

"You! We're practicing your aiming of spells the next chance we get!" Leon snapped, pointing at Sora. "That was almost my head!"

"Sorry, it moved!" the teen exclaimed, frowning.

"What a racket! How's a doorknob to get any sleep?" the Doorknob asked, yawning.

Leon narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw to keep dozens of rude—and most likely mean—retorts from slipping out and insulting the Doorknob, because Aerith had drilled it into his head to at least be civil—he didn't even have to be polite, just civil—and he knew that if Sora, Donald, or Goofy let it slip that he was mean for no reason, the healer—though a kind, gentle, and fair woman—would most likely smack him upside the head, or worse.

She may have worn pink, but Aerith was strict about manners. ...Or Leon's lack thereof.

While the Doorknob's mouth was wide open (how tempting would it be to shove a ball in his mouth so big he couldn't spit it out?), a keyhole shone brightly inside it. The end of Sora's Keyblade began to glow as well, before a beam of light was emitted from the end and instantly connecting with the keyhole in the Doorknob's mouth, and there was the sound of something locking.

"...What was that?" Donald asked, feathered brows furrowing together in confusion.

Sora shrugged slightly, looking perplexed. "I don't know. It sounded like something... _locked._"

They all watched silently as a gummi piece fell to the ground, down to the point where it stopped moving.

"...It's a gummi piece," Leon stated, crossing his arms and sighing in annoyance. "Do we want it or not? Free pieces are hard to come by."

Goofy picked it up and squinted at it, as if scrutinizing it. "This gummi ain't like the others, no sir," he finally stated, handing the gummi piece to Donald.

Donald took it and put it... somewhere to be safe, because as Leon had said, free gummi pieces were hard to come by. "Okay, I'll hold onto it."

Leon stiffened as he felt a pair of eyes boring into his back and turned quickly, glaring at the one that had been watching him. "You!"

The Cheshire Cat tilted his head, as if to show his innocence, but that _stupid_ grin was still in place on his feline lips. "Me!" He jumped to his feet and clapped for them. "Splendid! You're quite the heroes." He sat back and seemed to sigh wistfully, but you had to wonder if it was sincere, because he was still grinning. "If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into the darkness."

And then he disappeared.

Sora visibly deflated at this. "No..."

Donald frowned, then suggested, "Let's get back to the gummi ship. We might find her on some other world."

"I've just got one question," Leon answered, crossing his arms. "_How?_"

-x-x-x-

"_**I can't guarantee what's going to happen to you after the Time Compression. You may be older, you may be younger... I really don't know. But at least you'll be okay."**_

"_**But... Rinoa, you don't have to do this," Squall pleaded, frowning in concern. "Come on, just stop—"**_

"_**Squall, deal with it," she ordered sharply, scowling at him. "I can't save everyone, but at least I can save the people I care about."**_

__

_**He sighed loudly. "Rinoa..."**_

_**She smiled and waved at him. "Have fun and at least **__try__** to move on, Squall!"**_

"_**But—"**_

'_I had to go through puberty __**all**__**over**__ again,'_ Leon thought darkly, crossing his arms and scowling. _'I better not have been the only one that had to suffer through that. ...At least make Seifer had to go through it!'_

"So! Back to family," Sora stated, leaving the defense of the ship to Goofy as he flopped into the chair beside the older man. "What roles would you assign to Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie?"

"Aerith is easy. She's my older sister figure. ...Cid and Yuffie are going to take a while to figure out." Leon frowned in thought. "Aerith was the one that found me in Traverse Town and took me in."

"Cool!" the teen exclaimed, smiling at him.

The older brunet managed a small smile back at him before looking toward the front of the ship. He sat up slightly in veiled excitement. "Is that a new world?"

"Yep," Donald replied, steering toward it. "We're gonna land there and look around for the king."

"...And Sora's friends," Leon added, making Sora smile at him. "For the king _and_ Sora's friends?"

"Right. I just figured he knew that part," the duck answered quickly.

The gunblader frowned and crossed his arms, tilting his head back against the seat. For some reason, he had a _very_ bad feeling about this world.


	4. Coliseum: SpikyHaired Bastard

Coliseum: Spiky-Haired Bastard

Coliseum: Spiky-Haired Bastard

"It's big," Sora commented, looking around the entrance of the Coliseum. "And shiny."

"…Yes, yes it is," Leon agreed, glancing around carelessly as he crossed his arms. "Doesn't look like there's many Heartless, though."

Donald scowled. "Why would you _want_ Heartless to be here?! We get a break!"

"…Whatever."

They crossed the yard and opened the doors on the other side, coming into what looked like a lobby. They blinked at the small goat-man putting up a sign before glancing at each other, silently daring the others to speak first.

Sora, easily the first one to give up, took a nervous step forward and tried to figure out what to say. "Um…"

"Hey, good timing," the goat-man said, not turning around as he fixed the parchment he was putting up on the wall. "Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me." He pointed at a pedestal against the wall. "I gotta spruce this place up for the games."

They turned and looked at the pedestal. "…Well, no sense just standing here," Sora sighed, going over to try and push the pedestal. Seeing that he was having trouble, Donald and Goofy went over to help.

Leon would have helped, but he felt that they could move it themselves if they tried hard enough. That, and he was busy watching the satyr. He'd read about them in books, sure, but this was his first time ever _seeing_ one.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy finally slumped to the ground, panting. "It's way too heavy!" Sora complained, sighing in defeat.

The satyr sounded offended. "Too heavy? Since when have you been such a little—" he began, turning, only to find the strange group instead of the person he was looking for. "Oh. Wrong guy." He frowned. "What are you doing here? This is the world-famous Coliseum! Heroes only! And I got my hands full preparing for the games, so run along, pip-squeaks!"

Leon raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They were scrawny, sure, but they weren't pip-squeaks. …And shouldn't the Keyblade wielder and his companions be considered heroes? If not, then whom?

The satyr sighed. "Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."

"Sounds sort of like what we've been doing since we left Traverse Town," Leon commented, though more to himself, because the other three were already arguing with the goat-man. He sighed and watched the argument fondly; he always _did_ enjoy watching younger people argue. …Then again, Phil as probably older than he was… Hmm…

"Okay, then, kid. Let's see what ya got," the satyr stated, then led the way into the arena.

The group glanced around, some more amazed than others; 'others' being Leon, of course. It took a lot to impress him, nowadays… As Sora began smashing barrels, he glanced around the arena appraisingly. It looked large enough that Sora could practice aiming his spells without seriously injuring anyone, and they could use the barrels as targets.

He _refused_ to have fire coming at his head _ever. Again._

Leon frowned as he saw a pair of intense blue eyes watching them out of a shadowy corner, then glanced at Donald, as Goofy was cheering Sora on. "Donald, I'll be right back."

"Huh? Okay," the duck replied, before returning his gaze to the Keyblade master and the barrels.

The gunblade wielder stalked over to the corner slowly, trying to size up his possible opponent. He couldn't really tell much about him, other than his eyes seemed to glow in the darkness he'd hidden himself in. He kept a hand on the hilt of gunblade just in case.

"Hey." The man—it was a man, and a lithe one at that, but his clothes hid it from a distance—glanced up at him carelessly, raising an eyebrow. Leon came to a stop and let the hip his gunblade was at jut to the side, frowning at him. "Can I help you with something, or do you always watch the people that come in here to train?"

The man shrugged, letting his eyes slide down from the gunblader's face to his hips. "I don't really care who Phil trains. I'm waiting for Hercules."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "Hercules?"

"Hercules," the man repeated, finally lifting his gaze back to the brunet's face. "I must admit, you're observant. Most people don't even notice me. Who are you?"

"It's polite to give your own name before asking for someone else's."

The man smirked and stood up straight, leaning slightly into the light to show blond, spiked hair and pale skin. "Cloud Strife. Now tell me _your_ name."

"Leon," the younger man answered, turning to go back to his companions. He squeaked as Cloud grabbed his belts and yanked him back, then turned his head to glare at him. "What do you want?!"

"Do you have a last name to go with that, Leon?" the blond asked, raising an eyebrow to show his amusement.

Leon growled slightly, but with the grip the older man had on his belts, he couldn't turn to face him. "…Loire. Leon Loire."

"Leon Loire?" Cloud smirked. "I don't believe that's your real name."

The brunet hissed softly, reaching back to try and pry his hand off. "Let go."

"Tell me your real name. I told you mine."

"Let me _go—_"

"_Tell me._"

"It's Squall Leonhart, okay?! Let me go!" Leon finally exclaimed, only to have his belts abruptly released. He stumbled forward, then turned and shot the blond a glare, trying to ignore the fact that his cheeks were slightly warm. "Jerk ass."

As he turned to stalk back to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, he distinctly heard Cloud say, "I'd jerk in _your_ ass."

It was then that Leon decided to never get within arms reach of Cloud Strife _ever again._

-x-x-x-

"Calm down."

"But that stupid _goat freak_ said we're not heroes, and we've probably been fighting way more monsters and Heartless than anyone else in those stupid games!" Sora exclaimed indignantly, flailing his fists around him in his outraged pacing. "It's not fair! I mean, this hasn't exactly been the _easiest_ adventure so far! We should be allowed to have a little fun!"

Leon sighed for what must have been the fifth time during the teen's entire tirade. "Okay, first of all, he's called a satyr, not a goat freak. Second of all, we should be _resting_ right now. In fact, we should stay the night here. We've been traveling nonstop, and considering what we had to go through in Wonderland—" Here he shuddered; there was no way he could _not_ shudder. "—We should take a break."

"But I really wanna fight in the games," the teen whined, grabbing the man's arm and pulling at it pleadingly. "Come on, you have to wanna fight too!"

"…_Fine…_" The gunblade wielder extricated himself from Sora's death grip and looked at Donald and Goofy, who'd been conversing amongst themselves about the strange gummi piece and the missing King. "You guys go ask about rooms for the night. I'll go talk to Phil."

"Okay."

Leon turned to go back into the lobby and heaved another sigh; truthfully, fighting in the games would be fun, but he was content to just watch Sora, Donald, and Goofy. It would be more fun for him to relax and watch rather than fight himself. Stepping into the lobby, he glanced around for the satyr, but could not find him, so he continued into the arena. Phil wasn't there, either.

He frowned and looked around in confusion. "He didn't come out of the lobby with us… So where could he…?"

"Who are you looking for?"

Leon let out an undignified yelp and turned quickly to find himself face to face with Cloud. "Son of a—What the hell is your problem!?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "What? You just looked a little lost. I thought I'd help you."

"No! No, don't help me! I don't need your help!" the brunet answered quickly, immediately putting five feet between them. "In fact, I was just leaving—"

The blond raised an eyebrow as Leon tried to walk around him but didn't move to stop him. Once the younger man was next to him, though, he lifted his arm just enough to rest his hand on the brunet's butt and give it a quick squeeze.

Leon jumped but, thank God, didn't squeal. Instead, he turned, hand up, to slap him across the face. "Hands off!"

"…Did… you just…" Cloud smirked slightly and turned to look at him. "Did you just _slap_ me?" When the other man merely glared at him, he indulged himself with a small laugh. "Could you get _anymore_ girly? I mean, the hair, and the hips, but then you _slap_ me?" He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not a girl with a really flat chest?"

The brunet growled softly. "You jerk—_Blizagga!_"

"_Shit!_"

Leon smirked as the blond took a few alarmed steps back, shielding his face, but didn't take long to reflect on the joy of his attack. Instead, he bolted back into the lobby and outside.

-x-x-x-

"…You got a pass?"

"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed, bouncing slightly in his spot. "Some guy gave it to us! Look!"

Leon took the pass and frowned, looking it over, before handing it back. "You shouldn't trust strangers like that, Sora."

"If you don't trust strangers, you never make friends," the teen retorted, bouncing past him. "I'm so excited!"

The older brunet watched him and sighed, sliding his hands into his pockets. _'I wish I could be that open sometimes…'_ He blinked as spiky blond hair and intense blue eyes popped into his head before scowling. _'On second thought, never mind.'_

"I can't wait to play in the games tomorrow! What about you, Leon?" Sora asked, turning toward him.

Leon raised an eyebrow. "I'm… just going to watch you guys. This is fun for you. I'm going to rest."

The teen looked a little downcast at first but immediately brightened up. "Okay! You're old, so you probably need the rest more than we do!"

"Did you just call me old?!"

"Dude, I'm fifteen. You're practically ancient."

"I'm twenty-five!"

-x-x-x-

Leon heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, thankful for the room that Donald and Goofy had gotten him with a single bed. He didn't much feel like sharing right now, especially if someone was talking. He wasn't in the mood for talking right now.

The room wasn't much. Just a bed and a table, and a dresser for people who stayed long. There was a community bath down the hall that he'd seen Sora dashing into, and he assumed there were toilets in there somewhere as well. He'd stop by in the morning when he woke up, take a bath, and go wake up Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They wouldn't appreciate it, but if they were playing in the games, they needed to get warmed up.

And Leon still wanted to get Sora to practice aiming his spells. He was _not_ going to risk life and limb simply because the teen couldn't shoot his magic correctly.

He stripped off his shirt, jacket, and belts and began to undo his pants, then started searching around in the satchel Aerith had packed for him for sleep pants—he knew there'd be some; it was Aerith, for heaven's sake. He frowned as he come across a tube of something and pulled it out, wondering what it could be, considering Aerith put all of his bathroom supplies (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste) into a small red bag.

"What the hell…?" he trailed off, turning the tube over to read the words. He let out a yelp and tossed it like it had suddenly tried to attack him. "_Lube?!_ What the _hell! __**Yuffie!**_" He gasped as a pair of arms slid around his waist and the offender pressed against his back, turning his head quickly as he reached down to grip the arms around him. "Hey-!"

"Hmm, we may need that," Cloud stated, smirking, as his glowing gaze landed on the tube now lying on the bed. "Wouldn't be good if you got hurt, would it?"

Leon blushed as one of the blond's hands began to trail down into his pants and grabbed his wrist quickly. "W-what are you _doing!?_"

The older man chuckled softly. "I would think that was _obvious,_ Squall."

"Don't call me that!" the brunet exclaimed, struggling to keep Cloud's hand from traveling further. "Get off me! I don't want this!" He whimpered softly as the blond began to kiss his neck and twisted his head to try and pull away, unintentionally exposing more of his neck to be ravished. "No!"

"Just cooperate with me and it'll feel fantastic, Squall. Trust me," Cloud whispered, leaning his lips next to the brunet's ear.

"Please just stop…!" Leon gasped as the blond's hand finally reached its destination and closed his eyes tightly as he was fondled. "Please, I…"

The older man sighed and closed his eyes, nuzzling the brunet's neck affectionately. "Your skin is so soft… And… you're so _light…_ Why hasn't anyone claimed you yet…?"

"Because I don't want them to now let me go!" the brunet begged, gasping again as the man behind him gave his hardening cock a firm squeeze. "Oh God…!"

Cloud groaned softly as the younger man unconsciously arched his back and pressed closer to him, beginning to suck and bite on his shoulder. "So pretty… Want to keep you…"

"Please… Please, I—" Leon started, only to let out a gasp as something black and leathery brushed against his left shoulder and turned his head sharply. "What the hell is that?!"

The blond raised an eyebrow, flapping his wing slightly to brush against the smaller man's shoulder and side. "It's a wing. Haven't you seen one before?"

"Why do you have—What is—Stop touching me with it! It's weird!" the brunet exclaimed, trying to lean away from it.

"You don't like it? …I don't much like it either," the older man admitted. He flapped it a few more times, smiling bitterly, before pulling it back behind him.

Leon couldn't help but feel badly for him. He obviously disliked his wing, and he'd probably made him feel worse with what he'd said; he blamed Rinoa and Aerith for his growing feeling of guilt. "…Wait…"

"Hmm?" Cloud turned back to the man in his arms, wing twisting further back to hide behind him.

"…May I touch it?"

"You just said—" the blond began, frowning, then sighed and brought his wing forward again. "Okay."

The brunet brought his hand up hesitantly, timidly touching the leathery appendage and stretching it slightly. He blinked for a minute, then smiled a little and lifted his other hand to play with it. When the wing fluttered slightly then pushed closer to his hands, he couldn't help a small chuckle. "It's kind of cute."

"Cute? What's wrong with you? It's hideous. …It's a fucking wing!"

He looked up at the older man and frowned, gently pulling on the end of his wing. "What's your point? You've got a wing, so what? …I've seen things far worse," he muttered, rolling his eyes and shuddering at the thought of the ever-grinning Cheshire Cat and the damnable Trickmaster with his damnable bowling pins—_they were fucking bowling pins!_ What the hell was up with that?!

"What could be worse than… this?" Cloud asked, fluttering his wing again.

Leon scowled at him. "Oh, you did _not_ just say that! First I'm sent through puberty twice, then I have to work to buy back my _own_ blade, and then I'm conned into coming on this huge adventure to a bunch of worlds I don't know, and then I have to put up with this pink and purple—_thing!_ And it never _once_ stopped grinning! And Sora wouldn't let me shoot it! And then there's this humongous Heartless that's using bowling pins as some sort of weapon—I mean, who the hell uses _bowling pins?!_ Not only does it bounce around like some sort of idiot but then it tries to decapitate you with _bowling pins!_—and Sora nearly takes my head off with magic that he doesn't know how to aim!"

Cloud blinked as he paused to take a breath. "But how—"

The other man would not be hindered in his tirade. "Then I get stuck in the gummi ship trying to figure out what family figures my friends are and that's kind of _hard_ when one of them swears every other word and the other thinks she's a ninja and is bound and determined to set me up with a man no matter _how_ many times I tell her I'm straight! And then I get stuck here with—with _you!_" He growled softly and prodded him in the chest. "Mr. I'm-gonna-molest-Leon-and-call-him-Squall-whenever-I-see-him-even-though-he-doesn't-like-it! You're such a pervert! Did it ever occur to you that _maybe_ what you want isn't exactly what I want?!"

Cloud blinked at him, his tirade having for the moment stunned him, before he finally asked, "What's this about puberty twice?"

"_Ugh!_ And _that's_ the only thing you pick up on?! Not the 'I don't like you molesting me' part?!" The brunet threw his hands up in the air in annoyance. "You horrible, _horrible_ man! Listen to _all_ of the words coming out of my mouth! Not just the ones you find interesting!"

"Bu—huh—what?" The blond tilted his head, stunned. "But… Wait, what?"

"GET OUTTA MY ROOM!"

-x-x-x-

Sora, Donald, and Goofy poked their heads out of their room quickly, eyes wide in surprise. They were just in time to see a man with spiky blond hair getting thrown out of Leon's room. He hit the opposite wall with a dull thud and fell to the ground in a heap.

Leon leaned out of his room, glaring at him. "Not only are you a pervert, but you're a pervert that doesn't even listen! Do _not_ bother me again, Strife, or you're gonna find your dick missing!" He turned his head and trained his scowl on the trio. "Shouldn't you be in bed?!" he asked angrily, raising an eyebrow.

"…Goodnight!" the three replied quickly, before ducking back into their room and closing the door with a snap.

Leon turned his glare back on the blond. "You're a pervert and the only good thing about you is your wing! I never want to see you again, you spiky-haired _bastard!_" With that said, he slammed his door shut.

Cloud groaned and rolled onto his back, turning his head to look at the brunet's door. "…God, I'd love a feisty little kitten like that in bed. …Damn, that hurt…" He rolled onto his stomach and got to his hands and knees, then sent one last glance at the other man's door before smirking to himself. _'One way or another, that man's ass is __**mine.**__'_


	5. Coliseum: Assaults in the Bath and Arena

Coliseum: Assaults in the Bath and Arena

Leon poked his head into the community bath and looked around warily, spying for spiky blond hair or glowing blue eyes. When he found that there was no one inside—then again, who _would_ be at five in the morning—he let out a sigh of relief and wandered into the room, looking down at the large pool of steaming water. He shed his sleeping pants at the bench near the wall and slid into the bath, sinking under to wet his hair. He resurfaced and smiled, humming softly as he let his muscles relax.

He let his head loll back onto the edge of the pool and sighed, letting his eyes flutter shut. He was so content just laying there and soaking in the warm water that he failed to hear the soft footsteps behind him that slowly went to the other side of the pool, or the sound of someone else slipping into the water as quietly as possible and slowly making their way over to him. In fact, he probably would have missed the person placing their arms on either side of him, trapping him against the wall, had it not been for the water droplets landing on his shoulders.

He opened his eyes quickly and couldn't hide a gasp as surprise. "Cloud-! …What the _hell!_ I said I didn't want to see you again!" He reached up and grabbed the blond's shoulders, trying to push him away, but the older man was quite content where he was and wouldn't budge.

Cloud smirked and watched the brunet struggle to move him, then leaned in and nuzzled his neck. "It's cute that you think you can push me away." He pulled his hands away from the wall and rested them on the smaller man's hips, holding them tightly enough to keep him from getting far. "But you're not getting away from me this time, Squall."

"No, I—" Leon began, only to yelp as the man reached down and slid the tips of his fingers up and down his cock. He bit his bottom lip and whimpered softly, giving the blond the biggest, saddest puppy-dog eyes he could manage (which was pretty big and pretty sad; he'd gotten _Aerith_ to let him have his way with them). "Please don't…"

The blond seemed unaffected though, and instead grasped the younger man's cock tightly. "You'll enjoy it, Squall. Just relax."

When he realized that his puppy eyes had failed, the brunet began struggling anew, beating on the older man's chest and trying to shove the much-too-friendly hand away quickly. "No, no! What are you doing?! _No!_"

The blond chuckled softly, easily batting the frantic man's hands away. "Just relax and enjoy what I'm doing, Squall."

"No! I—" Leon gasped as the blond gave his hardening cock a firm squeeze and closed his eyes tightly. "Aaahhhh…!"

"That's right…" The swordsman pressed a firm kiss to the brunet's temple. "Just let me touch you and enjoy the ride."

The younger man bit his bottom lip again and shuddered, unconsciously bucking his hips forward to thrust into the blond's hand. "Ah… Nn…"

Cloud smirked and began to stroke him faster, tightening his grip slightly to watch the brunet squirm. He got the wanted reaction when the younger man grunted and grabbed his shoulders, bucking his hips faster to match his strokes. He whimpered and rested his forehead on the blond's chest, beginning to pant as he was drawn closer to the edge and his muscles began to clench and unclench.

"Are you getting close, Squall?"

"Ah… Mmn…" The brunet blushed and bit his bottom lip again, shuddering as the older man's free hand slid back to give his butt a quick squeeze. "Hey-! Oh God!" He released one of the blond's shoulders and bit down on his index finger to keep from crying out as he finally reached his climax, his body spasming from the shocks of pleasure running through his nerves.

The older man caught him as his knees buckled. "Whoa, easy, babe." He grabbed the brunet's hips and lifted him up onto the side of the pool. "Wouldn't want you to choke on bath water, would we?"

Leon blushed in shame and looked away from him, biting his bottom lip. "…Just leave me alone…"

Cloud frowned and grabbed the brunet's chin, forcing eye-contact. "I don't want to leave you alone. I see you, and I can feel my memories in the back of my mind. You talk, and I can see flashes of familiar people in my head. I see you, and I can hear the voices of people from my past. …If I see you long enough, maybe I'll find what I'm looking for."

"Well why couldn't you just say that!" he exclaimed, slapping the blond's hand away. "Instead of touching me when I don't want to be touched and calling me 'Squall—'"

"That's your name," the older man cut in, but Leon wouldn't hear it.

"Not anymore it's not! I changed it! I'm not the helpless stupid teenager who watched his girlfriend die just so she could save the people she cared about! Squall was a coward and a fool—" He cut himself off and looked away quickly, rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes quickly. He gasped as the older man grabbed his wrists and looked up at him, trying to blink back his tears. "What are you—"

Cloud scowled at him. "_Don't_ call yourself a coward. As far as I'm concerned, you're braver than most men with a hundred years' more experience in travel and battle. And you're not a fool. If you were a fool, you wouldn't have seen me in the arena. You'd be dead a thousand times over for being caught unawares. You'd have more than the scar across your face."

Leon blinked in confusion, accidentally causing a single tear to roll down his cheek. "…But I couldn't save her…"

"I don't think she wanted you to," the blond stated, releasing one of his wrists to wipe away his tear.

"_**I can't save everyone, but at least I can save the people I care about."**_

Leon's eyes widened slightly as the words Cloud had spoken rang true with what Rinoa had said way back then. "You… you didn't… Let me go!" He used his free hand to push on the blond's shoulder and tried to pull away from him, knowing that if he didn't get away from him soon, he'd start crying. "Let me go, let me _go!_"

Cloud scowled and grabbed his wrist again, yanking him back into the pool and wrapping his arms around him tightly. "Stop it, Squall. Stop it!"

"I don't _want_ to let me go-!" He pounded on the older man's chest and sobbed. "Let me _go!_ I don't want this, stop making me feel this way, I hate it! I hate it! I don't _want_ to feel like this! I hate it! I hate _you!_ I hate your stupid spiky hair and your stupid blue eyes and your stupid strong arms and your stupid adorable wing and your stupid sneaky hands and your stupid-! …Your stupid…" He hid his face in the blond's chest. "…Your stupid pretty smile and your stupid warm hugs…"

The older man sighed and rubbed circles on the small of the brunet's back. "It's okay to let someone else be the strong one sometimes, Squall. Let someone take care of you?"

"I _can't._" Leon looked up at him through watery gray eyes. "I _can't._"

"Why not?"

"Because I've made people take care of me too many times! I don't want to be a burden anymore!"

Cloud frowned. "So you take everyone else's burden as your own? To make up for time you believe you stole from someone else?"

The brunet looked away from him. "…The people I owe are dead. I can try and make it up to their memories by helping other people."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe they don't _want_ you to make it up to them?"

"Yes. …But that's never stopped me before."

"…Stubborn little fool…" The blond slid his hand down to give the younger man's butt a small squeeze.

"_Stop doing that!_" Leon exclaimed, shoving him away. "You _pervert!_ I like you better when you're being nice! …And I don't like that either because then you molest me again!"

The older man leered at him, smirking, and reached for him again. "You can't molest the willing, Squall."

"_I'm not willing!_ Get away! Get away, I said!" He turned and began to jump out of the bath, squawking indignantly when he was grabbed around the waist and yanked back in. "Hey-!"

Cloud ran his tongue up the side of his neck and growled. "I'm not finished with you yet, Squall. I've only just begun to pleasure you."

"Agh! Don't touch me there!" the brunet exclaimed, grabbing the older man's hand and blushing as he went for his cock. "You're such a pervert! Let go! I need to go back to my room!"

"I'll escort you then. And then maybe we can… use your bed for certain activities…"

Leon blushed and scowled, trying to squirm out of his embrace. "No! Get off me, you creep!"

"Harsh words, honey." The blond smirked and spun the smaller man around to smash him up against the wall, pressing his lips to his collarbone and beginning to nibble and suck.

"H-hey! What are you doing?! That'll leave a mark!" The brunet pushed at his chest desperately, feeling as if his blush was permanently stained upon his cheeks. "Get off me, jerk!"

"Mm…" Cloud pulled back with a slurp, smirking at the string of saliva still connecting them to each other. "That, my lovely, is what I'm trying to do." He leaned down again and growled, trying to make the bruise forming even darker.

"S-stop it!" Leon whimpered and pounded on his shoulders weakly. "Get off!"

The blond leaned back and raised an eyebrow, inspecting his work, before smirking at the smaller man and giving him a quick spank. "This is just the beginning of the marks I'll be leavings on you. Shall we continue this in your room?"

"You _jerk!_" The brunet gave him a shove, at the same time hooking his leg behind the other man's knees. He gave a brief smile of relief as the blond tumbled backward into the water, flailing. "Serves you right, you perverted bat-winged jerk!"

And then he was up and out of the bath, toiletries in hand, and out of the room.

-x-x-x-

"No, no, _no!_" Leon groaned and rubbed at the bruise on his collarbone frantically. "That fucking jerk!"

Having arrived at his room (and locking the door and barricading it), he had proceeded to get dressed. He'd been horrified to discover that his shirt didn't cover his collarbone where the hickey he was given was placed. Anyone who had eyes would be able to see it.

And Sora, Donald, and Goofy would undoubtedly _ask_ about it.

"Jerk, jerk, jerk! I swear I'll kill him next time I see him! Oh, God, how am I going to explain _this_ away?" He bit his bottom lip, then immediately brightened up at the thought of using a potion to heal his suction-induced bruise. "That'll work!"

-x-x-x-

Sora let out a whine as he was dragged out to the arena, wishing he could have stayed in bed just a little longer. "Leeeooon, I'm _tired._ Can't we do this later?"

"_Absolutely not._"

The teen flinched, then sighed in defeat. "Alright, fine. What are we doing?"

Leon pointed at the barrels he'd set up after having healed himself with a potion. "You're going to aim your spells at each and every one of those barrels and you're not going to leave this arena until all of them are gone. I _refuse_ to have fire flying at my head ever again!" he stated, giving the smaller brunet a scowl.

Sora let out another whine. "But why do Goofy and Donald get to sleep in? Shouldn't they be out here training too?"

"Uh, Donald already knows how to aim his spells, and Goofy doesn't _have_ magic he needs to aim." Leon rested his hands on his hips and frowned. "Get to work, Sora. The sooner you master the aim of your spells, the sooner I buy you breakfast."

'Breakfast' appeared to be the magic word, as Sora then let out a battle cry and began blasting and zapping at the barrels. …He missed the first fifteen or twenty times, but then he began getting closer and closer. Finally, one of the barrels got struck and blown apart by one of Sora's lightning attacks. As the teen whooped and did a victory dance (complete with a moonwalk), Leon shook his head, amused by the Keyblade wielder's show of personal triumph.

"Alright, you keep practicing, and I'll go get your breakfast," the older brunet sighed, smiling slightly. Really, how did Sora manage to know the moonwalk?

"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed, flailing his arms in his excitement, before turning back to his task with new vigor.

Leon chuckled and turned, striding from the arena in the general direction of the cafeteria that all of the contenders could get food in. He knew Sora would be hungry. …He'd watched the teen wolf down food last night before bed. He was afraid that he'd lose a hand if he reached for the salt.

He grabbed a tray and began piling various breakfast foods on it. He'd learned last night that if it stood still long enough, the teen would eat it. This alarmed him slightly, but he knew that it was because Sora was still growing. …Or at least, he hoped that was the reason.

He gasped as a pair of arms slid around his waist and looked up quickly, feeling an unfamiliar sense of panic. "What—"

"It's _gone._" Cloud narrowed his eyes at the brunet and growled softly, the irises of his eyes beginning to glow slightly in annoyance. "Where's the hickey I gave you? Did you put make-up on it?"

"I… I…" Leon could only stare up at him silently, cursing the blush he felt rising to his cheeks as he remembered what all the blond had done to him that morning. "…I…"

"…But then… you don't wear make-up…" the blond murmured, mostly to himself, before he let out a growl and spun the younger man around.

The gunblader let out a yelp as he was slammed back against the sneeze guard protecting the food, then whimpered softly in pain. "Ow! That hurt, you— Eep!"

The blond growled again and latched onto his collarbone, sucking at it roughly and biting down hard enough to draw a little blood. He lapped up the crimson liquid languidly, his right hand sliding down to slowly caress the younger man's hip. He wedged his knee between the brunet's legs and began to work them apart.

Leon whimpered again, then scowled, grabbing the blond's hair and yanking his head back. "Get _off!_ Sora's waiting for me to come back with food!"

"He can wait," the swordsman replied, narrowing his eyes, before tightening his grip on the brunet's hip.

"No! He can't! Just leave me alone, you pervert!" He felt around frantically for something to help him, then grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and slammed it into the blond's face. "Get off!" While the older man was distracted by getting the hot, gooey substance out of his eyes, he grabbed the tray he'd already gathered together and ran, cursing him in every language he knew and even a few that he made up.

But really, what was Cloud thinking, always touching him and molesting him?! This was sexual harassment!

-x-x-x-

Phil raised one of his bushy brows as he watched the Keyblade wielder wolfing down the breakfast that had been brought to him; compared to Donald and Goofy, whom had shown up when he'd been gone to get food. "Well, he has a healthy appetite."

"Tch, yeah, if he were four people," Leon muttered, though thankfully went unheard. He shuddered and glanced around, feeling as if he were being watched.

Oh dear God. Could it be _Cloud?_ Oh dear _God!_

"So in this competition we start with the preliminaries," Phil stated, gaining Sora, Donald, and Goofy's attention as well as Leon's.

The brunet frowned. Didn't _every_ competition start with the preliminaries? If not, where were these competitions? If he had the opportunity to skip straight to the end—

"Ready for the preliminaries?" the satyr continued, unaware of the man's musing.

Sora pumped his fist into the air cheerfully, mouth still full of food. "Yeah, let's do it!"

"Ah… Ya might want to swallow first…"

Leon wrinkled his nose slightly in disgust. Really. No one liked _that_ kind of seafood.

Phil cleared his throat slightly before continuing. "Some real weirdoes have signed up for the games. You better watch yourself."

The brunet tilted his head, trying to fathom just _what,_ exactly, could be weirder than the Trickmaster. Annoying, bouncy son-of-a-bitch.

Sora turned and looked up at the older brunet pleadingly. "You'll be cheering for us, won't you, Leon?"

"Ah…" Leon smiled a little, uncertain of how to answer. "I'll… be watching. And knowing you'll win."

The Keyblade wielder brightened up immediately. "And that's Leon-Speech for 'of course, Sora! I'd _love_ to cheer for you guys!'"

"…Yeah," the older man deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

"Okay!" The teen smiled and turned away from him, bouncing to meet their two other companions in the arena.

Leon sighed and rolled his eyes again. Sometimes the boy could be so weird. As he went to go sit in the front of the stands (sending a glare at the people who tried to stop him from stealing a 'good seat'), he glanced to see who his friends' opponents were. His eyes widened.

Heartless? They were fighting _Heartless?_ Hell, he could take all of those Heartless out with a sweep of his gunblade! Okay, this competition was automatically a jip! They weren't fighting anything they hadn't fought before!

He stiffened as he saw Cloud walking across the arena and growled as the blond slowed to observe his companions. Acting before he could think it out, he grabbed someone's walking stick and threw it as hard as he could, aiming at the blond threat to his friends and ignoring the owner of the stick's indignant squawk.

Cloud suddenly turned and caught the stick flying at him, narrowing his eyes at the brunet. He seemed to ponder throwing it back at him, but in the end he decided to just toss it so it clattered across the ground and landed noisily at his feet. Seeing the brunet's stunned expression, the older man smirked and turned away, continuing his walk across the arena and out into the lobby.

Leon stood and walked over to his friends, crossing his arms as he went. "You guys are doing well."

Phil frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah, you guys ain't doin' too bad. But something tells me he's gonna be a tough one to beat."

Sora shivered slightly. "Oh God! Did you see the way he just caught that stick? It was going pretty fast!"

Donald turned and raised one of his feathered brows at the man beside them. "Why _did_ you throw that stick at him?"

"He rubs me the wrong way," Leon stated darkly, and the others decided to drop the subject at his sinister tone. His statement was followed by an awkward silence.

At least, until, Sora broke it. "Hey, Leon, will you go grab an energy drink for me?"

"Why the hell would _you_ need an energy drink, you bunny on meth?" the older brunet asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Keyblade wielder looked offended. "I am _not_ a bunny on meth! Besides, all of this fighting is hard work!"

"We fought harder than that in Wonderland!" The man was beginning to get frustrated. Deciding to take the high road, he sighed immediately afterward. "Fine, I'll go get you an energy drink. Donald, Goofy?"

"_No!_" the two animals exclaimed, unconsciously taking a step away from the teen they were supposed to be working with.

"O…kay. I'll be back in a few minutes," he sighed, turning to walk away. "You _owe_ me, Sora."

The teen smiled brightly. "Thank you, Leon!"

Leon rolled his eyes and continued out into and past the lobby. _'Yeah, you play innocent all you want, kid. I know your game.'_ He began into the hall leading into the cafeteria but stopped suddenly when he heard a voice talking, and it sent shivers down his spine. He ducked behind one of the large pillars, feeling as if it was in his best interest. _'Woah. Talk about one of the voices of Evil.'_

"That little punk is your next opponent, okay? Now, don't blow it. Just take him out."

Leon's eyes widened. _'Is he talking about Sora? Who the hell is he talking to?'_

"The great God of the Underworld is afraid of a kid?" Oh _God,_ that was _Cloud's_ voice! And he was talking to the _God_ of the _Underworld!_ "Sorry, but my contract says—"

The first voice cut the blond off sharply and loudly, and the brunet could just imagine the flames shooting from his ears and nostrils in his agitation. "I know! You think I don't know?! I wrote the contract!" The person paused to calm down slightly, and Leon couldn't help but be alarmed by what he heard. "I know it says you're only required to kill Hercules in this tournament, but you've gotta fight this kid to be able to get to him."

"Hmmn…" Cloud managed to sound bored and uncooperative at the same time just making a grunt.

The person sighed. "Come on. Hey, it's like the old goat says. Rule number eleven: it's all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it! I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, is it?"

Leon gasped softly. _'Oh God, he's talking about Sora. He wants Cloud to kill __**Sora!**__'_

"Tch. Whatever." The blond's heavy boots let him know that the blond was walking away from the god.

The god hissed softly. "Jeez, stiffer than the stiffs back home." There was a thoughtful pause. "…Still, suckers like him are hard to come by."

Leon relaxed against the pillar he was hiding behind and let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He'd have to keep an eye on Sora in the round against Cloud. He stood up straight sighed. _'How did Cloud get mixed up with him…?'_

"Eavesdropping is naughty," a familiar voice stated in a very deadpan-like manner.

The brunet jumped and turned sharply. "Cloud!"

Cloud narrowed his eyes at the younger man and backed him up against the wall. "How much did you hear? What do you know?"

Leon couldn't help but wince as the blond slammed his hand against the wall next to his head. "I didn't—"

"_Don't_ lie to me," the blond hissed, pressing up against him. The brunet whimpered; this time it was to threaten, not seduce. "Tell me what you know. Tell me what you heard and think you understand!"

"H-Hades wants you to kill some guy named Hercules!" The brunet suddenly glared up at him, his protective instincts kicking in. "And he said to kill Sora if he gets in your way!"

Cloud snorted and leaned back slightly. "Yes, and what of it? I have my reasons."

"Your reasons will never be good enough for me to forgive you if you hurt him," the brunet snarled. "And if you expect to ever get sex from me, killing Sora will assure that you _never have sex again._ Because you will have no penis. I will rip it off and shove it up your ass! Sora is under _my_ protection!"

"And who's protecting _you_ from _me?_" the blond asked sharply, eyes beginning to glow. "You'll protect Sora, but who will protect _you?_"

"Well it obviously won't be you!" Leon retorted angrily. "You're a jerk and a pervert! The only feelings you pay attention to are your own and you don't care about anyone else's! Go to Hell!"

Cloud growled and crushed his mouth in a bruising kiss before he could say any more. The younger man had had enough of his abuse, however, and stomped on his instep. Hard.

"_OW!_ Son of a _bitch!_"

"There's a lot more where that came from!" Leon snapped, glaring at him, before storming toward the cafeteria to get Sora's stupid energy drink. _'Fucking pervert!'_

Cloud glared after him, hissing softly, before his lips curved into a cruel smirk. His kitten was sexy when he was angry. And feisty kittens were the most fun to tame.


	6. Coliseum: Cerberus

Coliseum: Cerberus

Leon felt his eyebrow twitching. _'Dear God. He __**is**__ a bunny on meth. I will __**never**__ give him energy drinks again!'_

Sora, Donald, and Goofy had come through the rest of their rounds fantastically. Especially since you could barely see the Keyblade Master when he started moving because he was so hyped up. Dear _God._ Sora was forever banned from energy drinks! He'd made that silent pact with Donald and Goofy after his first energy-induced round.

He vaguely wondered how Cloud would handle Sora in this condition. He knew Cloud was fast, but with the help of artificial energy, Sora could be faster. And he still fumbled some attacks every once in a while, but he was good at follow-ups and combos. Well, maybe Sora could be allowed an energy drink _sometimes,_ if he was fighting Cloud.

Okay, so that was mean and totally cruel to Cloud, but the pervert deserved it.

Leon tensed as he saw Cloud coming into the arena for his fight with the Keyblade Master and glared at him. The blond noticed, turned toward him, and smirked, eyes flashing momentarily brighter before he turned his attention back to the teen he was to fight. The younger man immediately shuddered and glanced around, frowning.

That shiver had not come from Cloud's look; he was used to those by now, and he pretty much ignored them. No, this shiver had come from something related to the Darkness. Having had his world taken over by Darkness and protecting Traverse Town had made him sensitive to it. So he wondered… if it wasn't from Cloud working _with_ the Darkness, what did the Darkness have planned now?

He turned his gaze back on the fight at hand and sighed, then stood up quickly. Sora may have been winning, but he needed to get them all away so that he could figure out what was going on and what the Darkness was plotting—

He couldn't help the horror he felt when Cloud was suddenly crushed to the ground beneath a giant, jet-black paw. "C-Cloud…" He lifted his gaze slightly to three drooling, snarling heads.

"L-Leon? Do you think we can beat that?" Sora called out, as the rest of the people in the arena screamed and ran for the door, causing a mob that nearly took the man down. "Leon!"

"Get the _hell_ off me!" the brunet snarled, shoving some of the people mobbing him away. "Hyne forbid—" As the dog roared and began forward, he turned toward it sharply, instinctively drawing Lion Heart. He realized he should have done that in the first place; now all of the spectators were avoiding him and his huge sword. "What the fu—"

"Oh, right, there was one other rule I forgot."

Leon spun around, eyes narrowing as his gaze landed on what _had_ to be the god of the underworld. He was blue, wore black robes, and had fire on his head instead of hair. He still didn't understand how Cloud had gotten mixed up with him, but he had heard what Hades had said about suckers, so he knew the blond was being used.

The god laughed. "The rule? 'Accidents happen.'" He disappeared in a burst of flame after that announcement.

There was no way Cloud was going to live through this if he didn't get Cerberus _off_ of him and a mega-potion _into_ him. He turned back to the giant dog and changed his grip on his sword, then charged at it, trying to make it change its position and step off of Cloud. It took a step to the side, successfully allowing the blond up.

But he didn't move.

He looked up quickly as he heard the beast growl. It was charging right at him, too fast to get him out of the way. He lifted Lion Heart to defend himself only to find Cerberus already being driven back by a muscular man at its chest.

Phil appeared ecstatic. "Herc!"

The man shot them all a confused glance as to why they were still there. "Phil, get them out of here!"

"Sure thing! Sora, Donald, Goofy, Leon! Let's go!" the satyr cried, motioning for them to follow him.

Leon hesitated, then looked back at Cloud. "But…"

"I'll take care of him, don't worry!" Hercules assured him, and the brunet couldn't help the overwhelming feeling of trust he felt. He blamed it on the man's eyes; he had the same determined but truthful spark that Sora did.

"Alright," he replied, then turned and followed his companions out of the arena. He knew that Cloud would be okay with Hercules there. He didn't know _how_ he knew, but he knew.

Once safe in the lobby, he turned toward Sora, who looked confused. "What _was_ that thing? A big, angry doggy?"

Phil took a moment to catch his breath, but eventually, he answered, "That was Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld. Herc should be able to handle him." He winced as he heard a crash from the arena. "But then again, maybe not… This doesn't look good."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy began conspiring something in a little huddle. Leon found that his anxiety level grew whenever this happened. He would have to figure out how to keep that from happening; perhaps if kept all of them at least three yards away from each other…

"Let's go help him!" Sora decided finally, standing up straight and placing his hands on his hips determinedly. "We can help!"

Leon sighed loudly but resigned himself to Sora's do-gooder nature; he had to admit that he really wanted to help Hercules (_'And,'_ his mind supplied unhelpfully. _'You want to help Cloud too!'_) and keep anymore damage from being inflicted to the arena. He decided that he'd stab his mind later for adding Cloud. It was a warrior helping another warrior thing; there was nothing to do with physical attraction!

"You're not actually going in there?!" the satyr cried, surprised. "This isn't just a match, kid! This is real 'hero versus monster' action!"

The boy tapped a fist to his chest confidently. "I'm not afraid. You can decide if we're heroes or not!"

"We'll be fine, Phil," Leon stated, ruffling the teen's hair, as he began back toward the arena. "Come on, if you're coming."

"Hey! Wait up!"

"Be careful, kids!" Phil shouted after them.

Leon scowled. _'"Kids?" Sora is the only "kid" here. I'm a man. I've been a kid twice. I do not __**deserve**__ being called a kid anymore!'_ He sighed in defeat. _'Whatever.'_

As they came back into the arena once more they found Hercules on the retreat with Cloud thrown over his shoulder. Cerberus was advancing quickly; too quickly for him to be able to get away.

Now, Leon had nothing against dogs. In fact, he was in _love_ with all of the Dalmatians. He'd never had any reason to be cruel to dogs. Or any animal, for that matter. But this three-headed beast _had_ to go.

"Blizzaga!"

Cerberus let out an uncharacteristically high-pitched yelp as it found its tail frozen to the arena floor. Leon realized a moment too late that freezing it to the floor may not have been in his best interest. Alarmed and upset, Cerberus began jumping around to attempt to get its tail unstuck, causing shockwaves to fly out toward them.

Donald and Goofy, veteran fighters, saw this coming. Sora did not.

He would _not_ allow the Keyblade Master to die by getting thrown into a wall from _energy._ "Sora! Look out!" Leon exclaimed, grabbing the boy's jacket and tossing him upward hard enough to get him out of the shockwave's path.

He didn't have a chance to get out of the way himself. He yelped as he was thrown back into the wall, then grunted as he made impact, the air in his lungs forced outward. He fell to the ground and whimpered, then lunged to his feet and out of the way of an orb of darkness. He'd get his breath back later; he had to run _now._

Vaguely he wished that he could just go home and have his family bother over him. Aerith would begin wondering whether she should give him a potion, just in case there were some wounds he was too proud to let them see. Yuffie would bounce around demanding stories and asking if he had found any awesome accessories. Cid would come at him brandishing his teapot and demanding he drink some tea, because it would make him feel better.

And then an orb of darkness nearly took his head off.

Seeing the others just trying to bash away the heads as they came at them, he sighed and pressed a hand over his eyes. "Oh God. _Aim_ for its _heads!_"

"Oh. Right." There was a pause. "…Thanks, Leon!"

'_I swear to God, without me, they'd die. Sometimes I just don't understand why this is happening to __**me.**__'_ Leon sighed loudly but jumped a swing from Cerberus's tail, then sliced through the beast's thigh.

Cerberus let out a roar of agitation and outrage. It was slowed considerably now, as the new wound was oozing black, gooey blood. It was also more furious than it was before, and was quite content to center its attacks on the one that had injured it, for making it vulnerable and slow.

That was okay with Leon. With the dog concentrating on him, it gave Sora, Donald, and Goofy ample time to attack and do damage as well. That, and he was not only good at offense, but defense as well, so he could get in the odd attack after Cerberus backed off to gather its wits again. He was quite content with this, as the others were easily wearing at the beast's nerves and stamina.

Well, he was content until he tripped over Cloud's stupid sword. "_Shit!_" This was karma for wanting to stab his mind for adding Cloud, he just knew it.

Sora immediately grew concerned, as Cerberus was approaching his friend quickly for having one of its legs useless. Panicking slightly, he brought his blade down on the center head much harder than he had intended.

The head dropped, unconscious, and was tripped over. Cerberus's other two heads yelped as it tumbled forward to the ground. Leon winced and covered his head, expecting to be caught and crushed underneath the giant dog; he would never be as fast as Cloud, or a super-caffeinated Sora, and even _they_ would have trouble escaping being crushed.

Apparently, he needn't have worried about having to be fast. The center head had bashed into the one on its left, knocking it to the side. Both heads landed, unconscious, on either side of him. Uncovering his head, Leon let out a relieved sigh, then yelped as he saw the head furthest to his left twitching. Oh, it was still alive.

"Leon! Are you okay?!" Sora exclaimed, jumping onto one of the heads and sliding down to the ground.

Leon growled. "Sora, you can't just jump on the—Oh, never mind. Doesn't matter now anyway. It's knocked out."

The teen looked surprised, and a little shocked. "You mean it's not dead?!"

The gunblader raised an eyebrow, then turned and pointed to the head on their left that was twitching spasmodically. "Just unconscious." When he saw the horrified expressions on his companion's faces, he scowled. "Oh, come on! It's a creature from the _Underworld!_ Did you really think we'd be able to kill it?" He paused, then stood up straight, frowning, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "_Can_ you kill something from the Underworld?"

"If it's not dead, we should get outta here!" Donald pointed out, hopping up and down anxiously.

Goofy nodded. "Yeah! We don't know when it's gonna wake up!"

"Oookay." Sora nodded his agreement, then smiled and began toward the door. "Let's go then!"

Leon couldn't help smiling as not only did Sora let out a girly shriek, but Donald and Goofy did as well when they walked past the trembling head and jumped when it suddenly convulsed toward them. He turned to follow, but his eyes caught sight of Cloud's giant sword before he got the chance. He really didn't want to face Cloud again, but… he _did_ want to make sure he was okay… and he _did_ want to yell at him for letting his guard down…

Sighing, he holstered his gunblade and bent to grab the outrageously large sword. He let out a squawk as he nearly knocked himself over. "Oh my _Gawd!_" He stared at the sword in disbelief. "This thing has to be heavier than _I_ am!" He glared at it momentarily, then heaved the sword upward, succeeding in lifting it off the ground and lugging it toward the lobby without falling to the ground in a pathetic and most likely humiliating heap.

When he arrived in the lobby, he found himself just in time to hear Phil say, "—Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further—"

Donald looked outraged. "Hey! Whatta ya mean, '_junior_ heroes?'"

Leon grimaced, then glanced at Hercules and pointed at the sword. Hercules raised an eyebrow, glanced at his companions (whom were now arguing with Phil about heroes and junior heroes and Keyblade Masters and whatnot), then smiled and nodded to the door leading outside. He flashed the large man a small but sincere smile of his own, turned one last, exasperated look on his friends, then continued outside.

Seeing Cloud sitting on steps, staring at his feet, he smirked and stopped just behind and to the left of him. "What, sulking?" He set the tip of the sword down and let the rest of it clatter to the ground.

Cloud blinked, then looked up at him slowly, frowning. "Oh, it's you."

Leon frowned. This wasn't what he was expecting. He had thought that Cloud would make an excuse for getting stepped on, or spout some perverted pass, or _something._ But… 'oh, it's you?' That… sort of hurt. So Cloud _was_ just interested in his ass. All of the things he'd said when he'd cornered him in the bath had been oily words to get him to jump in the sack.

Schooling his expression into its usual cold mask (_'I haven't actually worn this mask since we left Traverse Town')_, he crossed his arms and turned away from him. "Tch, yeah, it's me. Sorry if I wasn't who you were expecting."

"That…" The blond sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "That wasn't what I meant. I—"

"I know what you meant. You were expecting Hades, or Sora, or maybe even Phil. You'd never expect _me_ to come out and talk to you. After all, I'm _scared_ of you."

Cloud frowned. "No, I just meant that I was expecting everyone to shun me, or… pity me. Especially you."

"Yeah, well, not everyone's unforgiving and cold. Especially not me," Leon snapped, then stopped, stunned at his own words. "…I mean… it's hard not to be… It… The war and… I had to for… them…"

Seeing the brunet was at a loss, confused by his own actions, Cloud sighed and rested his chin on his hands. "Forget I said anything. I didn't mean to piss you off."

Leon turned toward him, opening his mouth to respond that he didn't _want_ to forget he said anything and he _hadn't_ pissed him off, but he shut his mouth quickly with an audible 'click' as he saw Sora, Donald, and Goofy coming out of the lobby. _'Sora will probably say what I want to a lot easier, anyway. …He's not as socially awkward as I am…'_

Sora, seeing Cloud sitting on the steps, walked over to him quickly. "Hey, are you okay?"

Cloud glanced up at him, then nodded once. "Yeah."

"Really? Cerberus looked really heavy, and he like, crushed you under his foot. …Like an egg," the teen continued.

Leon scowled and slapped him in the back of the head. "Sora! Don't be rude!"

"Ow!" The Keyblade Wielder's bottom lip jutted out into a pout as he rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't _mean_ anything by it! I was just saying!"

The blond snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. I heal much faster than regular human beings; mako, and all of that, you know." When the group merely blinked at him in confusion, he chuckled to himself. "Or maybe you don't."

"…Yeah." Sora tilted his head, then rested his hands behind it in a casual pose. "So, why did you go along with Hades, anyway?"

Cloud shrugged and glanced away. "I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired." He sighed and stood up. "I fell into Darkness, and couldn't find the Light."

Leon felt a pang of guilt, but quickly kicked it in the balls, making it cower in submission and duck back into the back of his mind. "The Darkness is a powerful thing."

Sora looked back and forth between them, as if seeing something that no one else could, then looked up at Cloud and smiled brightly. "Don't worry; you'll find it! I'm searching too."

"For your Light?" the blond asked, raising an eyebrow. When the teen nodded, he began to walk past them, adding the warning of, "Don't lose sight of it."

Sora hesitated, giving Leon a calculative glance. Leon immediately frowned. "What are you thinking?"

Instead of answering, the teen took a few steps after the swordsman. "Hey, Cloud!"

The blond stopped and turned to look over his shoulder at him. "Hmm?"

"Well, for one thing, you forgot your sword!" Sora exclaimed, smiling. He bit his bottom lip, then quickly added, "Don't you think you'll have more success finding your Light if you travel to different worlds?"

Leon paled. _'He can't be suggesting what I think he's suggesting. Oh my God. No. I __**refuse**__ to be on the same ship with that manhandling, perverted chocobo head!'_

Cloud turned toward them fully and put a hand to his chin, nodding. "I suppose you're right."

"And… we have enough room on our ship…" Sora continued, clasping his hands behind his back. He glanced at Donald, who looked about to protest. "…And it would be nice to have someone as strong and experienced as you on our side."

The duck paused, then nodded his consent. Cloud would be an excellent addition to their party. "Yeah! I'm sure Leon wouldn't mind sharing a room with you."

'…_You're all against me, I know it. I'll kill you all!'_ Leon swore, glaring at both Donald and Sora.

The blond's lips curved into a smirk. "Are you asking me to join you?"

Sora clapped his hands together in front of him happily. "That's exactly what we're asking! So, will you?"

Cloud smiled and nodded. "Alright, I will." He glanced at Leon, smile fading back into a smirk. "It could help me find my Light, after all."

He wanted nothing more than to throttle him. Wrap his fingers around that thin neck and shake him and watch the glow fade out of those stupid blue eyes. Watch the wing quiver and flap wildly to free the body it was attached to. Slowly, _ever_ so slowly watching the life drain out of him…

"…Let's go get some food for the trip!" Sora suggested cheerfully.

Seeing the angry look on the gunblader's face darkening with every passing second, Goofy and Donald were quick to agree. "Yeah!"

And the teen and the king's lackeys scampered away.

"You… you _pervert!_ You just want more chances to get into my pants, don't you!?" Leon hissed, glaring at him.

Cloud walked over to grab his sword, still smirking. "Don't be silly, Squall. I simply want to find my Light."

"Don't you tell me not to be silly, because I'm not! 'Finding your Light' my ass!" the brunet exclaimed, clenching his hands into fists. Seeing the swordsman merely putting the sword in his harness on his back, he growled. "Are you _listening_ to me?!"

"Of course I am, Squall. Could you help me with this?"

Leon snarled but reached out to help ease the sword into its harness. Realizing what he was doing just as the blond turned around, he gasped. "You… you are such a _jerk!_"

"Me? Why? What have I done?" Cloud asked innocently, tilting his head.

"Well, first of all, my name is _Leon,_" the brunet stated icily. "Second, how _dare_ you distract me?! And _third_—"

"Okay, we got some food!" Sora stated cheerfully, walking up to them with a box full of food.

Leon glanced into the box carelessly, but then he just _had_ to look back. "Sora, do you have _any_ vegetables in that box?" He scowled. "Are you expecting all of us to live off of energy drinks, potato chips, and—Energy drinks?! I think not! Turn around, soldier," he ordered sharply. The teen 'eep'ed and turned sharply. "March!"

Cloud watched as the adorable brunet led the teen away, then glanced at Donald and Goofy. "Is he… always like that?"

"Leon? Gawrsh, no!" Goofy exclaimed, smiling. "He's usually calm and quiet!"

"I think he was just terrified at the thought of Sora having another energy drink," Donald mumbled, crossing his feathery arms.

They waited a few minutes until both brunets returned, each holding a box. Cloud glanced inside of them. "That still looks like a lot of energy drinks and potato chips."

"That's about half," Leon answered, sighing. "And I got some other food too." He shot the teen a glare. "Sora, you only get a half of an energy drink in a six hour sitting."

Sora frowned. "Aw, Leon!"

"Don't argue with me!" He gave the teen a warning glare. "Now are we leaving or not? The sooner we leave, the sooner Cloud find's his 'Light,' and the sooner we get rid of him!"

"Uh…" Sora, Donald, and Goofy glanced at each other anxiously, then nodded as one and began walking.

Leon shot Cloud a glare as well. "I swear to God, if you molest me while I'm sleeping, I'll cut off your hands." He paused, then gave the blond's wing a quick, affectionate rub. Then, letting out a 'humph,' he turned and began following his other companions.

Cloud blinked in surprise, then grinned and glanced at his wing. _'I believe you're going to be helping me get very close to our feisty kitten, my new friend.'_

"Cloud! Hurry up or we'll leave without you!" Leon exclaimed, leaning back to shout through the door. "…And take that creepy smile off your face!"

The blond let his grin fade into a small smile and hurried to catch up to them. "Sorry. I wouldn't want to hold you back." He twisted his wing to brush against the younger man's back. "…But maybe hold your back?"

"Yeek!" Leon blushed, then scowled. "Don't try anything _too_ perverted, you jerk. I've got my eye on you."

"Hmm…" Cloud smiled innocently. "And about what you said earlier… I would never _dream_ of molesting you while you're sleeping."

The brunet snorted. "Oh, so you're going to do it when I'm awake?"

"Not exactly." His smile twisted into a smirk. "I'm going to make you _want_ it, because you can't molest the willing."

Leon blushed again, then snorted and looked away from him. "Try whatever you want. It's not going to work."

"…We'll see… We'll see…" Cloud replied, pressing his wing closer to the brunet's back, as they boarded the gummi ship.


	7. Deep Jungle: Crash Landings and Hippos

Author's Note: I _do_ have a life outside of fanfic. I have homework and friends to hang out with just like anyone else. I realize you all enjoy my stories, but if you don't stop Private Messaging me telling me to hurry up and update, I might take longer, just to spite you! I may seem kind, but if you tick me off, I can be very vindictive! The new chapters will come when I have time!

And also…

To britt (anonymous reviewer): I don't think appealing to me will make anyone else update their stories. ^^ And some of my other readers could tell you that sometimes it may take me over a month to update things. It's not that I don't want to; I just don't have time to write new chapters very often. Perhaps you could check out some other pairings or fandoms in the meantime, to keep yourself preoccupied?

Deep Jungle: Crash Landings and Hippos

Leon didn't want to say he was _enjoying_ the trip to the next world, but at least he could say it wasn't unbearable. Cloud hadn't groped or molested him since they'd gotten on the ship, and Sora hadn't had any trouble aiming at the Heartless ships and taking them out like he had on their first trip. Hell, the arguing had even been down to a minimum.

He settled back in his chair and sighed, allowing the tense frown on his face to relax into a content expression. After a few moments, he let his eyes drift shut and settled himself for a catnap.

At least until he felt something tickling his neck.

Wincing, he flinched away from it. "Ack!"

Cloud chuckled softly and twitched his wing closer, brushing it against the brunet's cheek. "What? You like my wing."

"Not _tickling_ me!" he exclaimed in annoyance, then batted the black, leathery appendage away. "Stop that!"

"I'm sure you could learn to enjoy it tickling you," the blond replied, before his smile turned into a leer as he leaned closer. He added, in a whisper, "Especially in certain intimate places."

Leon blushed brightly and shot him a nasty glare. "Shut _up,_ you pervert!"

The swordsman was not to be deterred. "How would you like to feel it brushing lightly against your dick? Or between your legs? Or even…" He smirked. "Between your ass cheeks?"

Sora blinked as he heard a crack, then turned to look back at the two men to see Leon curled up in his seat, scowling (though it was getting dangerously close to being called a pout), with his back turned toward Cloud. The blond himself was bent over and had both hands clapped over his nose, blood dripping through his fingers to splatter on the floor between his feet. Tears were forming in his eyes as well from what certainly had to be an excruciating broken nose.

"…Cloud, are you okay? Do you need a potion?" he asked in concern, frowning.

The blond waved his unease away. "I'll be fine. Give me a minute. The mako will do its job in a second."

"…Okay, if you say so…" Sora hesitated before turning back to his post of shooting down Heartless ships.

Cloud shot the brunet next to him a glare. "You broke my nose!"

"It'll heal in a minute, won't it?" the gunblader asked icily, trying to ignore the fact that he was blushing and that the blond's suggestions had, in fact, been a little bit… _exciting._ No, he was _not_ aroused by that jerk!

"Hey, Donald, maybe the King's down there," Goofy suggested suddenly, drawing his attention away from convincing himself that he had _not_ gotten aroused—even a tiny bit—by the blond, chocobo-haired jerk.

Donald looked disgusted. "In a backwater place like that? No way!" He turned his attention back to the controls. "Let's move on."

Sora scowled. "Hey, wait a minute! Riku and Kairi could be down there! Let's check it out first!"

"Forget it!" The duck remained stubborn. "We're on an important mission!"

Leon frowned. "…I don't mind landing," he stated, but was miffed to find that he had gone ignored. Opening his mouth to continue, he was even more annoyed with the fact that the swordsman beside him shushed him.

"Shh! I wanna see what happens," Cloud hissed, clapping his hand over the brunet's mouth.

The brunet found himself growing concerned as Sora grew frustrated quite quickly. "Just land!"

'_Well, Donald __**did**__ promise that they'd look for Sora's friends too, so—'_ His brows furrowed together.

His worry grew as Donald refused to relent, either. "No!"

'_Oh, that's just gonna provoke him—'_

"Come on!"

"Aw, phooey!"

It was like watching a tennis game, and poor Goofy was the net! Leon pulled the hand over his mouth away to bring their argument to an end, but Sora would not be deterred.

"We're landing!" the teen exclaimed, reaching out and smashing a few buttons at once.

Donald let out a squawk as a few screens started blinking and an alarm went off above their heads, causing an annoying honking sound and a big red light to begin flashing. "What did you do?!"

"I thought I pressed the button to land!" the Keyblade Wielder exclaimed, frowning.

Leon was out of his seat and by the controls within seconds, trying to assess the situation. He couldn't tell what had happened, however, which was saying something, since he had helped Cid build gummi ships by hand to help earn a little extra money for his gunblade since he'd landed in Traverse Town. This alarmed him. He'd met the _one_ person in the worlds that Cid had warned him about; the person that could cause any mechanical item to malfunction by the press of a single button.

They were going to die.

'_No! Don't think like that! Just calm down, think rationally, and… figure out what the __**hell**__ Sora did!'_ He took a few deep breaths, checked the transmitters, then let out a yelp and grabbed the controls, jerking to the side so they narrowly avoided a tree. _'We're going to __**die!**__'_ He winced at the sound of the bark of the tree scraping against the side of ship, then concentrated on steering them out of the way of another tree.

He hadn't expected the tree directly behind that one. The final impact was coming, he just knew it.

Leon's arms shot out of the own accord to shove Donald and Sora away from the controls, so instead it was only he being propelled forward into the windshield. He covered his head instinctively and made himself into the smallest target possible.

There was a crack as the back of his head met the windshield, and then the others could only watch in horror as the glass shattered and he was sent flying. Sora and Donald, though they'd been shoved back, were thrown out the broken windshield as well. Goofy and Cloud, not wanting to see their companions hurt, sprang out the window after them.

-x-x-x-

Leon whimpered as he felt a throbbing in the back of his head, then made a small sound of discontent as he was rolled onto his back and lifted so his poor, pounding head wasn't pressed onto the ground. The big, strong hand at his neck and the base of his head was comforting, and it kept his head from lolling around and hurting even more. He didn't open his eyes; he knew the light would just aggravate his already aching head.

He whimpered again as he felt something pressing against his lips. He heard a shushing noise, then the statement, "It's just a potion. It'll help."

After a few seconds of hesitation, Leon parted his lips and was met with the familiar bitter taste of a potion. It helped immediately; the throbbing faded, the pain making his eyes cross lessened, and he didn't feel he'd throw up if he moved. He opened his eyes slowly, then let out a loud, aggravated groan.

"Oh God, it's _you._"

Cloud frowned. "Well, _that's_ a good way to thank someone. 'Oh God, _you_ freaking saved my life.' I see how it is."

"Good, I'm glad," the brunet retorted, glaring at him, before sitting up quickly, despite the throb in the back of his head that warned him he'd just been healed and it still kind of ached. He checked to make sure all of his clothes were still on, then sighed in relief.

The swordsman raised an eyebrow. "…What are you doing?"

"I was making sure you hadn't molested me in my sleep," Leon replied, then hissed and began the struggle to his feet. "I don't exactly trust you _not_ to do it."

"Aw, that hurts." The blond stood and hurried to help the other man, knowing he was too stubborn to ask for it and he wouldn't do it even if he weren't proud. "Are you sure you should be moving this soon after a major head injury?"

The brunet rolled his eyes. "Tch. Try having your guardian forces ripped out of you. That'll leave you with an ache _everywhere,_ not just your head."

"…Guardian forces," Cloud repeated slowly, frowning in confusion.

The gunblader sighed, then began to explain. "'It's an independent energy force. By combining it with para-magic, it's possible to control tremendous energy. Memory loss is a possible side effect, but this had not been proven yet.'"

"…That sounded like something out of a textbook. And what about… para-magic? What's that?"

Leon groaned again. "It's a phrase for magic used by humans. And that _was_ the textbook definition!"

The blond tilted his head, following the other man like a lost puppy as he went about searching for their companions in this… large and altogether confusing and disorienting jungle. "Why do you know the textbook definition?"

"Because it's one of the most basic things a SeeD has to learn!" the brunet answered distractedly, brushing back past him. "How do we get _out_ of here?!"

Cloud figured he'd never get more information from the man about his past unless he kept him distracted. "Um… perhaps if we go that way…?"

Leon turned to see where he was pointing, then sighed. "That's as good a place as any to start with, I guess."

"What's a SeeD?" the blond asked, once the gunblader was distracted again (this time by trying to hack some branches out of the way, using his gunblade as a machete).

"You stick it in dirt and it grows into a plant, stupid," the brunet snarled, growing aggravated with the endless questions.

The swordsman scowled. "I _mean_ the kind of SeeD _you_ were talking about."

"Oh. That's the name of the mercenary force Cid and Edea Kramer came up with. We were hired out for all sorts of… things…" Leon trailed off, slowly coming to a stop, before he felt anger boiling up in him. Turning with his fist up, he smashed his knuckles into the blond's nose with a satisfying crunch. "You _jerk!_"

The blond let out a yelp and stumbled backward, clapping his hands over his bleeding nose as tears began forming in his eyes again. He shot the brunet a glare. "You broke my fucking nose! …Again!"

"Stay _out_ of my _business!_" the younger man snapped, glaring at him, before he turned forward again and began slashing through the foliage with a new passion. "I can't _believe_ you'd just _let_ me go around spilling my guts out and—_Wah!_"

Cloud blinked as he heard a splash, then stepped forward carefully, coming to the edge of a lagoon. He couldn't help a grin as he found his kitten sputtering and flailing around like a scalded cat. …The fact that he could now see through Leon's shirt had nothing to do with his grin, either.

Leon felt his temper wearing thin. Not only did he still have the slight residual headache from his fall from the gummi ship, but he was now wet and miserable as well. And he was stuck with _Cloud,_ who would be absolutely no help to him whatsoever unless he suddenly decided that he just _had_ to lose his virginity. Oh, this was turning out to be a hell of a day.

'_I hope they all die horrible, painful, __**angry**__ deaths at the hand of evil ninja with giant shuriken and tons of yaoi porn that if Cid knew about would blow a gasket,'_ he thought sourly, glaring at the blond leering at him (or, rather, his now-exposed chest). _'…And maybe get crushed by Cerberus. Cloud can get stepped on twice for all I care.'_

He let out a squawk as the blond suddenly lashed out and grabbed his wrists, pulling him from the water swiftly and setting him on his feet behind him. He blinked for a moment, stunned, as the swordsman took a protective stance in front of him, then frowned and leaned around to see what it was that had garnered such a hostile reaction. He yelped as the blond's wing flew out, shielding him from view slightly, then scowled and shoved it back down so he could see.

What he saw stunned him. "…Cloud."

Cloud glared at his opponents and grunted softly. "Hn?"

"…Are you threatening _hippos?_"

There was a moment of silence before the blond stood up straight, relaxing from his battle stance, and turned toward him, confused. "What?"

Leon raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "You were threatening _hippos?_ Cloud, as long as we stay out of their way, they won't hurt us. …_Far,_ out of their way," he added, grabbing the blond's hand to lead him _around_ the lagoon filled with hippos.

The older man frowned. "Wait, why are we afraid of them? Why can I just go in swinging? What's wrong? Are they magic? What are their powers?"

"Oh God." The brunet sighed loudly and clapped a hand over his face. "Cloud, they're not magical. They're just downright mean. Worse than women during their… unhappy times."

Cloud blinked at him. "…I don't understand. They're big, fat, and they look stupid."

"Actually, they can literally tear you to pieces with their teeth," Leon replied, rolling his eyes. "And it's so dangerous because they're aggressive and unpredictable! They're not afraid of humans! Okay? So let's just give them a wide berth. I'm lucky they didn't tear me apart when I fell in their lagoon."

The blond tilted his head, utterly perplexed by this. "…So why can't I just _kill_ them and we can go wherever we want?"

"Oh for the love of—" Immediately growing frustrated (he had been doing that a lot when it came to Cloud, he noted), he turned and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying into the lagoon. He smirked in satisfaction as he heard a splash, then turned to continue walking, even despite the loud sputtering and cursing he heard behind him.


	8. Deep Jungle: Gorillas and Snakes

Author's Note: I. HATE. DEEP JUNGLE! IhateitIhateitIhateit I wish it would die! *fume fume* …It's annoying except for the tree sliding and the very end with the butterfly fluff. So forgive me if this chapter and the last were not up to par with the rest. I just want them _out of the way_ so I can get to the butterfly fluff and we can leave and go back to Traverse Town and then _we'll all be happy_ because this is the only world I absolutely _abhor!_

Also, I did not mean to hurt any of my patient readers' feelings when I said to stop bothering me. You guys are awesome! It's the people private messaging me that tick me off! *glares* You _know_ who you _are._ So you patient readers, I love you! You just keep being your patient selves and I'll get the chapters out as soon as I can as a thank you for being so kind!

So yeah… hope you enjoy! :3

Deep Jungle: Gorillas and Snakes

"So, we're stuck here."

"…Yeah, kinda."

Leon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "…Alright. So while you guys are looking for your king or your friends or whatever, who's going to fix the gummi ship?" He shot the others a skeptical gaze, making them all look down at their feet self-consciously. "Well?"

Cloud looked up from poking around in an old crate, then raised a hand, frowning slightly. "I'll do it if no one else will." He scowled when all eyes turned to him doubtfully. "Don't give me those looks! If I can maintain Fenrir, I can sure as hell fix a gummi ship!"

"And what, pray tell, is Fenrir?" the gunblader asked, placing his hands on his hips.

The blond sniffed indignantly. "My motorcycle."

"…You _do_ know that there is a substantial difference between a motorcycle and a gummi ship, right?" the younger man asked after a moment, frowning. "Like, one you ride on the ground, the other you fly in the sky?"

"Perhaps you should let him give it a try," Jane suggested, making the man turn his skeptical expression on her. She smiled. "At least, if he fails, you'll be able to point out that he knows nothing about your… 'gummi ship.'"

"…I agree with Jane. Let's make Cloud fix the ship while we look around," Sora agreed, placing his hands behind his head. "He volunteered!"

Leon frowned again. "It doesn't seem fair that we all get to explore and he doesn't."

"I can just take a look around later, anyway," Cloud cut in, flapping his wing to remind them that he _did_ have another means of transportation. "I'll see what I can do."

The others watched as the blond took off into the air, and the brunets wondered how it was that such a small wing managed to hold such a large man and an even larger sword. Once he was out of sight, Leon sighed and turned back to the others. "So are we going to go look for the king and your friends, or what?"

"Right," Sora answered, eyes flashing with pure determination. "Tarzan said we're going to see Kerchak. We're guessing that he's the leader."

He nodded slightly. "I see. So shall we go then?"

Tarzan let out a grunt and began toward where the others suspected the gorillas were. "Come."

Leon felt his senses going on high alert as they were led into a bamboo thicket. Oh, he didn't like this. It wasn't his Darkness alarms going off, though, so he figured it couldn't be that bad. …He also wondered why there was a random giant rock in the middle of all the bamboo, but figured that since it was a jungle, it could put its rocks wherever it liked if it wanted.

Until he was startled by a roar and then slammed into the rock as claws dug into his shoulders and began to drag down his back. Okay, he must be a magnet for pain today or something.

He was terrified when he felt a rush of heat and then there was a roar and then whatever it was had let him go. Oh God. He'd thought he'd never have a fire spell coming at his head again. Why did he always have to be _wrong_ when it came to things like that?! He was going to die by misplaced _spells!_

Turning to see what had attacked him, Leon found Tarzan, Sora, Donald, and Goofy trying to fend a giant leopard off. Okay, so if the day hadn't already been crappy enough (Cloud hitting on him and whispering lewd acts, crashing the gummi ship, getting a head wound, getting healed by Cloud, falling into a lagoon filled with hippos), he had to get attacked by a giant spotted _cat._ He was understandably pissed off, and he decided this leopard would have to _pay._

He grabbed his gunblade and growled, stalking toward the leopard snarling and spitting at his companions. Well, that just wouldn't do; he needed the giant cat's attention on him. Just as the leopard lifted its claws to attack his friends again, he gave it a swift kick in the stomach that sent it flying into the bamboo nearby, shielding it from view. He got into a defensive stance and scowled, tightening his grip on Lionheart.

When the leopard leapt out of the bamboo again, he swung his sword like a baseball bat. The flat of the gunblade collided into the leopard's head, sending it flying right back into the bamboo. After a few moments, Leon sensed the threatening presence fade, and turned back to his companions.

He frowned when he saw the slack-jawed looks he was receiving. "…What?"

"…That… was _so_ cool!" Sora exclaimed, eyes sparkling. "You've gotta teach me how to do that with my Keyblade!"

"…Why don't you learn the basics first?" the older man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'll teach you the more difficult things after you learn everything else." _'And I get over having fire shot at my head __**again!**__'_

"Okay, I guess I get that," the teen sighed, then turned and began following the ape-man again.

Leon shrugged slightly and winced as it sent a ripple of pain through his wounds. He should probably drink a potion or something, but he didn't have any on him, and if he asked the others for one, it was quite possible they'd panic or get overly concerned, and he didn't want the attention. He'd just swipe one from Cloud later.

Vines. They were dealing with vines now. Okay, he could deal with that—never mind the fact that he hated climbing up things like vines or ropes or anything like that because he had to keep his blade at his belt to use both hands. He felt his eye twitch when he saw Sora climbing up with the ease of a monkey. _'What kind of things did he __**do**__ on that island?!'_

However, standing around would get him nowhere. Sighing, Leon let his gunblade rest against his hip and began to climb, trying to catch up to his companions. When he got up beside them, he found Tarzan already speaking with two gorillas. He frowned and turned to his companions. "What'd I miss?"

"Well, we got up here, and then Tarzan started speaking to those two gorillas. We don't really know what he's been saying, though," Sora explained, frowning, before turning his attention back to the gorillas.

The larger one looked upward (Leon casually glanced up to see what he was looking at, but found nothing), then looked back at Tarzan. Then, without a word—or grunt, or growl, or whatever—to Tarzan, the gorillas both left.

Goofy frowned thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "He seemed sorta distracted by something."

"Was he looking toward the tree house?" Donald asked, looking up at him.

Leon frowned. "Tree house? What tree house?" His brows furrowed together when Donald and Sora shot each other a small glare. "Did I… miss something?"

"No!" they both replied sharply, making him take a small step back in surprise.

He watched them for a few more moments, hoping to figure out what had them both so snippy with each other, then sighed and shrugged. "…Okay, so how do we get to the tree house?"

Tarzan grunted and pointed at the vines. "Tree house."

Leon blinked at him for a moment, then scowled and shook his head. "Oh, no! Uh uh! Like hell!"

"But Leon, it's the only way to get to the tree house," Sora explained, frowning. "I'm not happy about it either!"

The older brunet groaned and ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "Urgh… Fine, but all of you are going first!" he ordered finally. _'If I had the choice right now, I would __**so**__ take the fire spell to the head rather than this.'_

"What are we doing?"

At this, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Leon all squawked in surprise and jumped; the Keyblade Master nearly lost his balance and, had it not been for Tarzan grabbing the back of his shirt and yanking him back, would have fallen off of the branch they were standing on. They all turned, weapons out, only to find… Cloud. Blinking at them innocently. As if he had _not_ just almost made them crap their pants.

"…What are we doing?" he repeated, tilting his head.

"…Wait. Did you fix the gummi ship already?" Donald asked, frowning.

Cloud sighed and looked upward, placing one hand on his hip as he used the other to ruffle his hair. "Well, as far as the engine and stuff go, that wasn't really too bad. All I had to do was change out the combustion gummis and fiddle around with one of the lasers, because a piece had broken off, so it works now too. I figured we'd need it, because most of the damage is the body work, and it couldn't stand too many Heartless attacks."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Sora stated, smiling.

The blond sighed. "Yeah, well… I'm not sure how long the ship will hold together. And we definitely can't use warp drive, otherwise the ship will fall apart." He looked back at them and frowned, brows furrowing together in concern. "We can only really make one last, short trip safely. We'll have to make it count."

"We'll need to go back to Traverse Town, then," Leon decided, nodding to himself. "Cid will be able to fix it. He's the one that built the gummi ships that everyone uses there, anyway, so even if he can't fix ours and has to scrap it, we'll be able to use one of his until he can make us a new one."

"That sounds like a good idea," Goofy agreed, and the brunet offered him a small smile of thanks; he liked Goofy. Goofy was a little slow, but he was intelligent.

Cloud scowled, then crossed his arms. "So _what_ are we _doing?_ No one's told me yet."

"We're going to the tree house!" Sora stated, smiling. "I'm not really sure what for yet, but Kerchak was looking that direction, so we figured it might as well be a good place to start."

The blond frowned again. "I was just there. …Our gummi ship is like, three trees to the south of it." He suddenly brightened. "How about Leon and I go ahead and make sure any Heartless are out of the way, and you guys can catch up?"

Leon's eye twitched. _'Don't do this to me, guys. Say no. It's a horrible, __**horrible**__ idea.'_ He growled as he saw the agreement in their eyes. _'__**Traitors!**__ I hope you all have Yuffie corner you with yaoi doujinshi! FEEL MY PAIN AND WRATH!'_

"Okay," Donald agreed, nodding.

"Great! See you guys in a minute," Cloud replied, then threw the gunblader over his shoulder and took off into the air.

"Oh my fucking _GOD!_" Leon was ashamed to admit that his voice had gone up an octave. In his defense, he was now freaking SOARING THROUGH THE AIR! _'Do not want! Damn, damn, damn, damn!'_

The blond was lucky he could not read minds, because the man he was holding onto was currently planning his death. …Several different ways. …Some of them including the hippos he'd warned him about earlier.

Cloud, still unsuspecting of the brunet's killer intent, tapped lightly to the ground on the path leading up to the tree house and set him down. "So, what—"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Leon shouted, kicking him in the chest (and, quite conveniently, into a sticker bush). "I'm not some _girl_ that needs to be carried around and protected!"

"Ah, shit, ow—" Cloud grumbled as he tried to pull himself out of the sticker bush, but, unfortunately, his cloak kept getting caught by the thorns. "Agh-! Squall! The bush is choking me!"

The brunet snorted and crossed his arms, turning away from him. "My _name_ is Leon. And your cloak is stupid anyway. It's going to get you stuck in a lot of positions that are dangerous."

"No-! Seriously! Can't breathe…!" the blond wheezed, reaching out for him desperately. "Squall…!"

"I _said_ my name is—Oh, you were serious!" Seeing the blond actually having trouble breathing and escaping the sticker bush, Leon hurried to grab the cloak and—with one swift yank—freed him from the bush.

Cloud squeaked as he heard a rip and jumped up, snatching his cloak from the brunet quickly to see what damage had been done. He moaned as he saw the long rip down the side. "Oh, God, Vincent's gonna kill me…!"

"Vincent?" The younger man frowned, tilting his head in confusion.

He'd heard the name mentioned a few times back in Traverse Town, but only when Cid wasn't around, and only whispered. When he'd asked them why, Yuffie and Aerith had subsequently shushed him, then told him that Vincent had stayed to fight the Heartless so they'd have a chance to escape on the gummi ship; he'd promised to catch up to them and hadn't been seen since.

They didn't discuss Vincent for Cid's sake. They had been best friends—more than best friends, if Yuffie had her say, which for once didn't have any mirth or joke-like qualities. Aerith hadn't negated her opinion, leaving Leon to believe that it might just be true. So, for Cid's sake, he didn't ask for any more information.

"Shit! Man, I promised him I wasn't going to let anything happen to it if he let me borrow it—" Cloud had continued his tirade throughout the brunet's entire reflection.

Sighing, Leon stepped closer and looked at the cloak carefully. "…This doesn't look too bad. I've got a sewing kit in my bag; I'll patch it up when we leave."

The blond frowned in confusion. "…Why do you have a sewing kit?"

"Truthfully? For when no one has a potion but someone has to be stitched up." He let the cape fall, frowning. "Aerith put it together for me. But I don't think we'll be having too many injuries that will need stitching, so it won't matter if I stitch up your cape instead."

"You wouldn't mind doing that?" the older man asked in confusion. "…Why?"

Leon frowned. He really did wonder why he would do that for him even after all of the crap Cloud gave him. Sighing, he waved it away. "You haven't been… completely horrible to me. And you seem really concerned about it. So if I want to mend it for you, don't mess it up for yourself. I'm giving you a free pass. You gonna take it or not?"

Cloud tilted his head, then smiled a little and nodded. "…Okay."

"That was _so_ freakin' awesome!" Sora exclaimed, nearly skipping up the path. He latched onto Leon's arm and tugged slightly. "You missed it, Leon! Vine swinging is _so_ fun!"

"…I thought you said you didn't want to," Leon answered, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

The younger brunet paused, then shrugged. "Well, after the first initial swings, it was fun. But anyway! Let's go!"

Sighing, the gunblader looked first at Tarzan and Goofy, then began trudging up the path. "Alright, let's go."

They all jumped as they heard Donald shouting, then a gunshot. "Donald!"

Breaking into a run, the party got to the tree house just in time to see Terk come running out, and then they saw Donald shouting at Clayton. "What's the big idea!"

Leon looked up just in time to see Kerchak watching them, giving Tarzan a disapproving look, before he turned and disappeared from sight. Tarzan called after him in distress. "Wait, Kerchak. Please!" Terk gave them one last look—one which Donald returned—before she turned to follow her leader.

Donald squawked angrily and turned back to Clayton; Sora decided to help. "Why would you do that?!"

Leon turned cold, calculating eyes on the other man for his answer, feeling a rage similar to when he'd found Heartless ganging up on Pongo and Perdita, the Dalmatians. _'Get yourself out of this one, you slimy snake. I will find every hole in your story.'_

Clayton waved one of his hands slightly. "You don't understand. I was only trying to…" He paused in thought, then started again with a new idea. "Ah. A snake, slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life." He offered them a slimy smile.

No one really wanted to believe him, but as they had no evidence otherwise, they had to agree, and made to go back to the camp to speak with Jane. Leon growled and turned to speak one last word to Clayton before they arrived, only to find Cloud already facing the man, face twisted into a furious expression.

He spoke softly, but the danger Clayton was in was made obvious. "If you try to hurt a harmless creature like that again, I'll kill you. End of story. Even if I have to _hunt you down_ and _gut you,_ I will. You betrayed the trust of someone who cares for you. I did that once. You bastard. How _dare_ you?"

Leon could see black tendrils begin twisting around his body. He didn't think that was good. "Cloud? Do you have an extra potion?"

As soon as his attention was elsewhere, the darkness immediately receded, and Cloud looked at him in concern. "Are you hurt?"

"…Yeah, my back is sort of torn." The brunet rolled his eyes and turned.

The swordsman gasped in horror, then scowled, growling angrily. "Who did that to you, Squall?"

"It's _Leon,_" Leon stated, shoving his shoulder sharply. "And a _leopard_ did it, Cloud." And that was followed by another sharp prod to his shoulder. "If you wanna go find it and kill it, be my guest. Until then, do you have a potion?"

"How could you _do_ such a thing!?"

Both men flinched instinctively; they had both lived with women that had tempers at some point. Jane was now dangerous. They'd stay outside.

Leon took the potion the blond finally offered him and leaned closer to the tent to hear better. Cloud frowned. "Eavesdropping?"

"You can't eavesdrop on something you could just go in and listen to," the brunet replied, frowning. "Besides, this way Sora can't give me puppy eyes to make me say something."

"Hmm…" The swordsman crossed his arms, frowning. He didn't really believe it. But he wouldn't push it.

"Now, Miss Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla."

Leon snorted. _'Liar. I should go get Yuffie and Aerith and bring them over just so they can kick your ass.'_

"You are _not_ to go near the gorillas again!"

Cloud nodded in satisfaction. "I like her."

"All because of one mishap? Come now…"

Both could imagine the fierce expression on the others' faces. Seconds later, Clayton stormed out. He turned to glance at them momentarily. Leon gave him one of his dirtier looks without actually glaring. Cloud merely pointed to his eyes, then at him, in a very threatening manner. The hunter snorted and turned to stomp away to fume alone.

Cloud couldn't help a smirk. "I sort of wish he'd try something."

Leon frowned. He had never seen Cloud as particularly violent. Clayton must have really struck something to piss the blond off enough to want to hurt him. It would be better to keep him calm, and his attention elsewhere. He could only hope Clayton didn't do anything else stupid.

They jumped as they heard a gunshot and turned. Leon let out a yelp as something came flying at his head and ducked, causing whatever it was to hit Cloud in the crotch. Now, Cloud may have had mako in his blood stream, but that sort of injury was crippling on any man.

"Oh God! …What hit me…?" His eyes widened. "A coconut? A _coconut?!_"

Leon growled as he looked up and grabbed his gunblade. "Heartless." He ducked another coconut and decided that that one needed to go down first. "Sora, Donald, Goofy! A little help!? Cloud's out of commission for a while!"

"Coming!"

As the trio burst out of the tent, he went about trying to destroy the coconut throwing, banana peel dropping Heartless. This proved more difficult than first perceived. After a few minutes of merely chasing the Heartless around—because staying still was apparently a big no-no—he grew frustrated and threw a handful of fire at it.

It burst into flames, and then as it was destroyed, burst into a fountain of munny. He blinked at it, then looked around to see if there was another one. He hadn't expected that much munny. Now that was awesome.

He turned to attack some different Heartless only to find Cloud slicing through them angrily. …Apparently he didn't appreciate attacks to his groin, either.

Leon hurried over to his other companions and hurried them out of range. "Come on, come on. You don't wanna get caught by his sword."

Cloud looked around for more Heartless wildly, growling, before letting out a frustrated snarl. He frowned as he saw the teen, duck, and dog's horrified expressions, then scowled. "What? Did you think I was going to let those things attack my manhood and get away with it?"

"…Let's go see what happened to Clayton," Leon suggested, ushering the group away. "So Cloud can calm down a little. Let's go."

"I did nothing wrong!" Cloud called after them, shaking a fist. "It was them, not me!"

Leon sighed. _'Somehow, I doubt that.'_ He really couldn't wait to get back to Traverse Town. He just wanted a nap. And someone else could keep Cloud busy while Sora, Donald, and Goofy tried to get over being traumatized.


	9. Deep Jungle: Little Butterfly

Author's Note: I must apologize for this. I skipped over a _bunch_ of stuff from Deep Jungle. In my defense, I've already stated I _HATE_ Deep Jungle. And from what I understand, a lot of you disliked it also. So I'm skipping all of the tedious crap and just skipped to the good part—the fight with Clayton and the Stealth Sneak and the butterfly fluff at the end. **:**D Sorry it took so long. I've been trying to put this off because I hate Deep Jungle, but now I'm making myself do this. I'll try to make sure the next chapter gets out sooner.

Enjoy!

Deep Jungle: Little Butterfly

Leon went through a checklist in his mind, trying to see if there was anything that he had missed. They'd saved the gorillas, had killed Sabor, had sent Jane back to the tent in camp and were currently looking for Clayton. Had he forgotten anything? Oh! Cloud had eventually gotten tired of having coconuts flung at him from the trees and was currently flying through the branches, intending to kill each and every Powerwild and Bouncywild he could get his hands on! That meant they didn't have to worry about surprise Heartless attacking them in a while.

Though he couldn't stop himself from snorting whenever he saw Cloud's cape get stuck and he nearly toppled over.

Coming upon the cliff, he was stunned to find a bunch of Heartless surrounding them, and then he saw Clayton aiming his shotgun at the poor creatures. He frowned in confusion—a shotgun wasn't normally a good weapon—but then he realized that this man was actually planning on _killing_ these poor, innocent creatures. He opened his mouth to call out and distract him, but was beaten to it by his smaller human companion.

Sora darted forward frantically. "_Nooooo!_"

Leon turned and raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you just flail your arms about while you're at it?"

The teen stuck his tongue out at him, then turned his attention back to the man above, who was giving them a very odd look indeed. The boy looked heartbroken. "Clayton?"

Tarzan was beside himself. "Not Clayton! *&&X%! Not Clayton!"

"_Raaaah!_"

The older man yipped and grabbed the Keyblade wielder tightly as something rushed past him, only to find a black and red blur circle the base of the cliff, sword tearing through each and every Powerwild that had been cornering the gorillas and allowing them to escape. Once the blur had stopped, he narrowed his eyes in irritation. "Will you _not do that_ please?!"

Cloud paused a moment to breath heavily, shaking with adrenaline and rage, before he turned his glowing blue gaze on the other man, and Leon realized now wasn't a very good time to upset him. The blond let out a snarl and began a dash at the other man, only to get distracted as the cliff suddenly exploded outward.

The brunet threw the teen in his arms behind a rock and ducked behind it, and seconds later, a large boulder hit the ground where they'd been standing only moments before. He trusted Donald and Goofy to get out of the way themselves; Sora really couldn't be trusted to do so, because he was the one that thought being thrown at a giant Heartless that fought with huge bowling pins would be fun. Once he decided no more rocks would kill them, he stood and looked around for Cloud.

He found him a few yards away, lying prone, and he was worried to find a trickle of blood sliding down his cheek from some sort of cut on the back of his head, hidden by his yellow spikes. However, that worry soon gave way to annoyance. _'He's gonna be __**pissed**__ when he wakes up, I know it.'_

Leon squawked as the teen suddenly grabbed onto his arm and pulled. "L-Leon! Clayton's _floating!_"

And indeed he was. It looked like he was sitting on something, though.

Tarzan, hurt that someone he trusted would betray him, darted forward to attack despite the invisible force that had lifted Clayton into the air. Then there was a squeal, and suddenly Tarzan was sent flying through the air to hit part of the cliff that had gone unscathed. There was a whoosh as the air was knocked out of him. As he struggled to get to his feet again, Leon grabbed Lion Heart and rushed forward as well, to distract whatever it was that was attacking them.

"Sora, Donald! Use lightning or something!" he called out, just barely dodging a swipe from the monster's claws. Of course, he hadn't actually intended on dodging; he'd tripped over one of the rocks strewn about and had felt the air blow past him as its claws just barely brushed the sleeve of his t-shirt. _'Oh, damn, that was too close!'_

Of course, it was only after he yelled it that he realized that he'd just put himself in a very, _very_ bad position. Donald may be an expert with magic, but Sora still needed some practice, and he'd _just_ learned thunder. His aim was okay, but he still had some misses.

He had just set himself up to die.

_Painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain—_

Leon decided that getting belted in the stomach hurt—even more so when he hit one of the cliff walls— and he never wanted it to happen again.

Groaning loudly, he sat up and glared at the air beneath Clayton, eye twitching. _'You and the creature you ride on will __**die.**__'_ He blinked as the creature the other man was riding on suddenly flickered into view. It looked like a chameleon. With a horn. And it _infuriated_ him. Why was something that Yuffie would consider cute currently _kicking his ass?!_

His attention was suddenly arrested by a gunshot, soon followed by a yelp, and he realized with growing frustration that he had forgotten all about the wayward hunter and his stupid shotgun. And Goofy had just gotten grazed.

Groaning, Leon struggled to his feet; he was sure he'd gotten a few cracked ribs, and he figured he was lucky he hadn't bunged his head like Cloud had, or was currently crawling, like Tarzan was trying to do. However, even injured, he had two things on his side that neither man had; eighteen years of experience in battle and a mean streak that made even Yuffie cower in her boots. He did _not_ go through puberty twice to be some pansy ass who couldn't think on his feet even with injuries and lay out like a rug to be walked on. Besides, he'd had worse than a few cracked ribs in a fight with a Heartless.

After another few bullets nearly harmed his companions, he growled and darted forward, ignoring the Stealth Sneak's screech of surprise and anger as he used its tail as a launch pad onto its back and then used the sharp spines on its back as stepping stones up to where Clayton sat. And, like the sneaky, stealthy former-SeeD he had been trained to be, he lunged forward, bashing the hunter in the head with the flat of his sword much like he had Sabor earlier in the day.

He figured Cloud would be angry if he just outright killed him without letting him have a try.

Clayton let out a grunt as he flew to the ground. Leon flipped around so he'd land on his feet, stumbled, then fell. How terribly graceful of him. He glared at the Stealth Sneak as it screeched again, flexing its claws to plunge into him. He was _so_ not in the mood.

Lifting Lion Heart, he pulled the trigger. "Fuck off and _die._"

The lizard-like Heartless let out a squeal as it was blown backward from the force of the bullet, and the brunet was pleased. Tired, sore, and extremely pissed off, but pleased.

Until a loud gunshot resounded and he felt a sharp pain in his sword arm.

Sighing loudly, Leon turned a glare on the hunter, who was currently bleeding from a wound above his eye and was pointing his shotgun at him. It had only hit his arm, but shotgun wounds _hurt_ (true story). …Though how it had only managed to hit his arm, he wasn't sure. Either way, he was in pain, and now he couldn't lift his sword, and he had a gun trained on him, and the Stealth Sneak was making its way toward him again.

Peachy.

The brunet squeaked as a bolt of lightning flew past his head to strike the stealth sneak. …He hated to say it, but he'd actually prefer the fire coming at his head. It was easier to counter fire than electricity.

The Stealth Sneak let out a whine, a rasp, and then it was falling forward to land on both Clayton and him. Leon felt his eye twitch. Now he could add being crushed under a giant Heartless to his list of injuries. He wished he could pull a Cid without it getting to Aerith; letting out a string of curses would make him feel better right now.

Still, the human instinct to survive sent a surge of adrenaline through his blood stream, and he hurriedly rolled to the side, just barely dodging getting crushed beneath the Heartless's heavy head. Clayton wasn't as lucky.

Watching the two enemies disappear and the crystalline heart float into the sky, Leon sighed, then groaned loudly. "Someone come heal me please…"

"Gawrsh, Leon! You look terrible!" Goofy exclaimed, helping him sit up.

The brunet scowled, then sighed again and rolled his eyes, deciding it didn't really matter. "Thanks, Goofy."

Sora handed him a mega-potion anxiously. "Here. Clayton must have dropped this."

"Hmm… Give this one to Tarzan. He needs it more," the older man replied, handing it back. "I'll take a hi-potion. Aerith can fix me up when we get back." He turned his head as he heard a soft grunt, then a groan of pain, then smirked. "Well, I see Sleeping Beauty has finally awoken. Have a nice nap?"

Cloud squinted at him for a second, then glared. "Fuck you. I did more work than any of you."

"Uh, not our fault. We're not the ones taking Heartless attacks personally," Leon retorted, then offered a small nod of thanks when Donald finally pulled a hi-potion from… somewhere. He couldn't really tell where the duck kept his items. He supposed someplace magical. The bitter taste of hi-potion had never been so welcome, and he was glad when the pressure of his cracked ribs and the numbness in his arm began to fade.

The blond looked annoyed. "They _attacked_ my _dick!_"

"…I think their aim just sucks," Sora answered, walking back over to them with Tarzan in tow. "It's not like their purpose in life is to keep you from having babies. It's to steal your heart!"

Leon nodded his agreement. "I second that." He blinked in surprise as a few gorillas walked out to them. "Um… hello?" He couldn't help a yelp as one grabbed the collar of his shirt, and then he was being flung upward and over its head. _'Bwah!'_

He landed on something firm, which was a relief, until he felt someone land on top of him. But then Sora was scrambling to get off, so he supposed that was okay. He was just glad his ribs had been healed before it had occurred, or else he would have cursed until the air turned blue, Aerith be damned.

Standing up, Leon looked around in confusion, gazing at the various gorillas that were staring down at them. "Well, I wasn't expecting this."

Cloud and Tarzan were soon to follow, one climbing, and the other flying. The blond was kind enough to grab Lion Heart and bring it back to the gunblader. Leon took it with a nod of acknowledgement, then turned to look at Tarzan, whom was looking down at the leader of their group of gorillas. Once whatever silent conversation they were having was over, he turned and began walking away, so after a few shared looks of confusion, they followed him over to the other side of the small plateau to gaze out over a lake to a set of pristine waterfalls.

Tarzan sighed softly, then stated, "Tarzan, home."

"It's very beautiful," Cloud commented softly, and the others nodded their agreement.

"Peaceful," Goofy added.

Leon took a moment to hang his gunblade at his hip, then looked at Tarzan. He had a feeling that this wasn't all the ape-man wanted to show them. And, when Tarzan started away again, he knew he was right. So they followed.

-x-x-x-

Leon eyed the blue light around them skeptically. Where was it coming from? And how? This peculiar thing needed to be investigated…

But at that moment, Tarzan began to speak. …Well, he spoke in gorilla anyway. "*&&X%."

Sora looked confused, and a little disappointed. "This is your home? But that means…"

The older brunet sighed and filled in the rest for him. _'Your friends aren't here.'_

Goofy merely looked confused. "Huh?"

"The waterfalls…" Jane commented softly, looking around. "They're echoing all the way here."

Tarzan nodded. "*&&%. Friends there," he explained, looking back at the blue light. "See friends."

This information (as broken as it was) was only received with blank or confused stares. He seemed frustrated by this.

Finally, Jane exclaimed, "Oh, now I've got it!" She smiled as the others turned to her for an explanation. "*&&X% means heart. Friends in our hearts."

"H-heart…" the ape-man repeated slowly, as if testing out the new word.

"Oh." Sora sighed. "So that's what it meant."

Leon nodded slightly. That made sense. But he could see the boy getting even more disappointed with the information, so he reached over and gently punched him in the shoulder. "Hey, cheer up. We'll find them."

"Yeah…" the teen sighed, looking down at his feet.

Tarzan looked back at the blue light. "Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart." He frowned. "No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."

At this, both the teen and the duck flinched, and then the Keyblade bearer turned toward him. "…Sorry about what I said," he murmured, then looked down at his shoes.

Donald frowned, then nodded. "I'm sorry, too."

"Yeah." Goofy seemed pleased with this, and rested a hand on either of their shoulders. "All for one, huh?"

Cloud blinked, then leaned toward the other man, frowning as he whispered, "What are they talking about?"

Leon shrugged and replied, "I don't know. I think we missed something, because they were at odds with each other when we got there, remember?"

"Oh. Yeah."

Then suddenly the light was glowing brighter, drawing their attention back to it. Sora stepped toward it, gazing at it thoughtfully, before pulling out his Keyblade and pointing it toward the light that the butterflies were gathered around. Light collected at the tip of the key-like sword before shooting out at the other one. After a few seconds, the light disconnected, and the one in the tree disappeared. Something popped out from where it had been and fell to the ground at their feet.

"A gummi!" Donald cried in surprise.

Goofy sighed forlornly. "But it's sure not the king's."

Leon bent down to pick it up and looked it over. "…It's a navigation gummi. I'll see if I can get Cid to install it when he fixes up the ship." He grimaced. "But if it's as bad as Cloud says, it's going to take maybe two or three days." He raised an eyebrow as one of the gorillas sidled over to Donald, then snorted and hurriedly turned away to shove the gummi in his pocket. Then, he crossed his arms, appearing indifferent once again.

Jane giggled as well. "Looks like someone has an admirer!"

"Huh? No, no, no, no! Daisy would _kill_ me!" Donald exclaimed, looking horrified at the prospect.

Leon understood that. Girls were exceptionally frightening creatures.

The iridescent butterflies, after realizing that the light was not going to come back, chose that moment to leave their perches and made for the light up above in the tree tops to escape. …Well, all but a few. One fluttered over to land on Jane's shoulder; she looked at it in surprised. It stayed there for a moment, then took off after its friends to the freedom above. Another butterfly took the time to flap elegantly around Sora's head before it also ascended.

The third and final butterfly, however, fluttered over and landed delicately on Leon's nose. The brunet blinked for a moment in surprise, then wrinkled his nose, hoping to dislodge it. Unfortunately, the insect was stubborn, and refused to be budged. He growled in frustration but didn't move to uncross his arms. He didn't really care enough to make it move if it really didn't want to.

Cloud chuckled, then reached up and gently brushed the butterfly from the brunet's nose onto his finger. "Come on, little guy. Don't you know that little kitties eat butterflies like you?"

Leon blushed as the other man walked out and turned to try and glare at him, but any act of irritation was foiled by the dusting of red across his cheeks. Why did he have to go do something so damn sweet, huh?! It was hard to be angry when someone was being sweet!

…Oh well. He'd probably say something in the gummi ship that would easily make him angry again, and he wouldn't have to worry about feeling bad because Cloud was being sweet. Besides, they were going to Traverse Town, anyway, so he'd be able to get away from everyone at least for a little while.

But on to more important matters.

"Sora! I'm teaching you 'cure' on the way back!" Leon stated as he began the long walk back to the gummi ship.

It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to cast it during the fight; he'd just been focusing on using his magic on Clayton, and had forgotten to use it. …He had a bad habit of doing that. Aerith was going to _rail_ him when they got back. But at least they'd get to rest.


	10. Traverse Town II: Welcome Home

Traverse Town II: Welcome Home

"Hey, hey, Leon, I just remembered something!" Sora exclaimed suddenly, glancing over from his post of shooting down Heartless ships.

Leon was busy clinging to his seat with a white-knuckle grip. _'How is this ship staying together? __**How**__ are we not dead!?'_

Cloud hadn't really given the physical damage of the gummi ship any justice. It was outrageous. It was nearly coming apart at the seams! But they'd had no choice if they wanted to get back to Traverse Town, so they'd gone inside, sat down, and prepared themselves for the most nerve-wracking ride of their lives.

It seemed this did not pertain to the Keyblade wielder.

"You said that Aerith was your older sister, but what about Yuffie and Cid?"

Leon raised an eyebrow as Cloud stiffened, then turned to raise an eyebrow at him. When the blond merely shrugged it off, he turned his attention back to the teen. "Yuffie and Cid?" He frowned. He had tried to ignore the fact that Sora had asked the question in the first place, but now that he thought about it… "I suppose Yuffie is like the mischievous little sister in our family. Even when she's helping me defeat Heartless, she still tries to pull pranks on me."

Sora snorted. "I can see why, you grump."

"What did you just say!?" the other brunet snapped back, scowling. "Fine! I just won't talk anymore!"

"No, no! I wanna hear what you think Cid is!" the teen whined, turning to look over his shoulder at him.

After a loud bang and the entire ship trembling, Leon panicked. "Okay, I'll tell you, just keep _shooting!_"

"…Okay!" The Keyblade wielder smiled brightly and went back to shooting.

The older brunet felt his eye twitch. Sometimes he liked the kid, but other times he just wanted to grab him and shake him. "…Cid."

"Yeah! What do you consider Cid to be?" Sora asked, though carefully kept his eyes on the Heartless ships. "Is he like a father-figure?"

"Oh, God, no." Leon sighed and rubbed his temple gently, frowning. "…Cid… Cid's like that uncle that your parents never like you hanging around, because they think he's a bad influence. He curses like every other word and he smokes like an old engine." He paused. "…But he _is_ really smart. I mean, he made all of the gummi ships you saw at the gummi port. And he's always finding ways to make them better—stronger lasers, faster engines, stuff like that." The brunet frowned and reached up to idly play with his hair. "But he doesn't smoke when he does that. Combustible fluids, and all that."

"Huh." Sora frowned thoughtfully. "I never heard him cuss."

The gunblader snorted. "Of course you didn't. Aerith made him tone it down around kids. And you look like you're about, what, twelve?"

The teen looked offended. "I'm fourteen!"

"You look like a prepubescent pain in the ass that we have to baby-sit," Cloud muttered, rolling his eyes.

"_Hey!_" Sora looked hurt.

Leon was also offended, so he turned and punched him in the arm. "_Cloud!_ You jerk! That was so uncalled for!"

The blond rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm a mean jerk. Totally."

"You _bastard._" The gunblader growled, then moved his aim higher.

Sora blinked as he heard a crack, then turned his attention away from the Heartless ships momentarily to look back at them. He frowned when he found Cloud bent over, cupping his nose as blood trickled between his fingers onto the floor. Leon looked rather smug, smirking and slouching in his seat with his arms crossed. And, despite the fact that Cloud had sort of hurt his feelings, he still felt the need to see if he was okay. "…Cloud? Do you need a potion?"

"_Fushmeckrefmshpmf!_"

Donald narrowed his eyes as Traverse Town came into sight. "I have a feeling this isn't gonna be the last time Cloud gets a broken nose on the gummi ship."

-x-x-x-

Traverse Town was a sight for sore eyes. Leon had never thought he'd be so glad to see it. And he was—glad to see it, that is, but he realized one of the reasons he maybe didn't miss it so much when he heard a war cry.

"_LEOOOOOOOOOOOON!_"

"Ooph!"

The rest of the party watched as something collided with the scarred man and sent him flying backward to land on his back, though he looked annoyed more than stunned. It appeared as if he'd expected this to happen, just… not as soon as it had. Then again, he _had_ described Yuffie as his mischievous little sister.

Leon sighed. "Hello, Yuffie."

She nuzzled his chest and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Leon, we missed you so much! Destroying Heartless has been so _boring!_ There's no one to play pranks on except Cid, and he's no fun to prank!"

"Yeah, that's a shame," he grunted, sitting up. After a few seconds of inner-debate, he struggled to his feet, and he knew that had been the right decision because then Yuffie was hooking her legs around him. "Jeez, you little monkey."

He saw a flash of red, and he realized he was lucky to see even that when he saw that Cloud had disappeared. He really didn't know what to think of it, but decided it was best not to mention anything; Cloud obviously didn't want to be around them here.

Sighing, he pointed to the red puddle of fabric on the ground. "Sora, could you pick that up for me, please?" He would have mended it on the ship, except he didn't have red thread and he was sort of busy white-knuckling his armrests.

Sora turned in surprise, then picked up the red cloak, looking confused. But he seemed to sense Cloud's discomfort as well, so he chose not to comment on it.

Yuffie decided to get the gunblader's attention back on her. "So! You gotta tell me what all happened! Anything exciting happen!? Where'd you go!? Who'd you meet!?"

"Yuffie, I will tape your mouth shut," Leon warned, but he began walking. "I think we should at least say hello to Aerith and Cid."

"Aw, you just suck the fun out of everything, you fun-sucker!" the ninja whined, uncoiling herself from his body to stand next to him. She turned to the other three and waved happily. "Hi, guys!"

Sora smiled back at her. "Hi, Yuffie."

"Hello," Donald and Goofy replied.

Turning her attention back to the gunblader, Yuffie smiled and placed her hands behind her head. "So, since you've been gone, Aerith and I have been going through Ansem's reports—"

"_Ha._"

"…So it was mostly Aerith, but I helped!" she exclaimed, frowning. "He kept repeating himself and using really big words!"

Leon rolled his eyes, then shoved his hands in his pocket. "So where's Aerith?"

"Oh! She's in the waterway, training a little! You know how she got a little bit out of practice reading all of those reports, so—"

"Ah, yeah." He waved a hand to keep her from explaining. "I see. Well, we'll go talk to Aerith and you… can go tell Cid to look at our gummi ship and see if he can fix it."

Yuffie frowned at him in confusion. "Huh? Why? What's wrong with it?"

The brunet sighed. "Um… Go take a look at it, and you'll be able to see it." Glancing back at his companions, he jerked his head to get them to come. "Let's go see Aerith."

"Ansem's the one that made all of those reports about the Heartless, right?" Sora asked, trotting after him obediently. "The one you and Yuffie told me about? I thought his reports got scattered across the worlds!"

"They did," Leon replied, shrugging a little. "Except, before you came, I'd been going around different worlds bringing refugees here and bringing back all of the reports I could find. …I probably should have kept a better eye out in Wonderland and Deep Jungle…" He waved that thought off quickly, though; both Wonderland and Deep Jungle had been locked. Everything was okay there.

Once reaching the waterway, the older brunet was a little ashamed to say that he had made a very… _unmanly_ noise. In his defense, he hadn't expected Aerith's staff to come swinging around at his head when he tapped her on the shoulder. She apparently didn't believe that her skills had stayed as good as they had and was still a little tense to make up for her rustiness.

Her rustiness had given him a lump on the head. And it really hurt.

Aerith gasped and covered her mouth in shock, then knelt in front of him. "Oh, Leon, I'm so sorry! I didn't think it was you—"

Sighing, Leon waved it away. "I'll take a potion later if the ache gets too bad. Don't worry; I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I hit you pretty hard." She hovered over him for a few more minutes, taking in his ripped and stained clothes, then glanced up at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Gasping in horror, she stood, then began ushering them all out. "Ugh! All of you need food and rest! I've got some soup warming on the stove; there should be enough for everyone. We'll get you some food and then you'll go directly to bed!"

"But—" Sora began, frowning in confusion, but she was already moving them toward the hotel. "…Okay…"

Leon sighed and watched them go, then winced as the older girl suddenly turned and pinned him with a glare. Then he hurriedly got to his feet and made his way after them.

Let it never be said that girls wearing pink can't be scary.

-x-x-x-

Despite how much they didn't want to eat and would rather talk, having a home-cooked meal was actually rather nice. Especially since Aerith seemed to have an endless amount of soup and they got as much as they wanted.

But, eventually, Aerith _did_ get around to asking, "So, did you find any Keyholes?"

"We found two," Sora replied around a mouth of potato. "And the Keyblade locked them automatically."

"Good, good."

Seeing that Aerith wasn't going to explain—she was too busy bustling around, making sure they had enough soup and apple cider and bread—Leon swallowed the bread in his mouth. "Every world has a Keyhole. Each one leads to the heart of that particular world." More to himself than the others, he added, "There must be one in this town as well…"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, and Aerith patiently chided for him to not speak with his mouth full.

When he nodded in acquiescence, she smiled at him. "It was in Ansem's report. Apparently, the Heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world's core."

The teen seemed more confused by this if anything. "So what happens to the world?"

Aerith sighed. "In the end, it… disappears."

Leon hurriedly leaned back, which was decidedly lucky for him, as Sora and Goofy both spit out their soup and Donald spit out the cider he'd been drinking. If he hadn't moved, he would have been covered with dinner.

"Whaaaat!"

"That's why your key is so important," the gunblader added.

Aerith nodded. "Please lock the Keyholes, Sora. You're the only one who can."

The teen looked hesitant at that. "I don't know…"

Leon sighed. "Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well."

"Yeah!" Donald agreed.

Goofy smiled at him. "We gotta find your friends! And King Mickey!"

Sora tilted his head, then nodded. "Yeah. You're right!"

"Well, all of you are going to bed!" Aerith stated cheerfully. "So we'll talk about this more in the morning if you have any questions!"

"Aw…" Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood and went to leave, then looked back at Leon in confusion.

Leon scowled. "My bedtime isn't until eleven-thirty, thank you very much!"

"Eleven o'clock on the dot," his 'elder sister' corrected, still smiling, but the slight narrow of her eyes didn't go unnoticed.

"…Still not the same bedtime as _them,_" he mumbled, resting his chin on his hand and looking away petulantly. "Hey, leave the gummis we found. I'll go take them by Cid and see what he'll do." He ducked slightly just in time to dodge the gummis as they bounced onto the table. "…Thanks."

Aerith waited until they were gone before giggling softly. "I see they're rubbing off on you. That was dangerously close to a pout."

"It was _not,_" the gunblader exclaimed, blushing a little as he glared at her, before he sighed and stood. "Whatever. I wanted to talk to you about someone."

At this, she turned toward him, having been in the act of taking the others' bowls to the sink. "Yes, Leon?"

"…We met this guy, in the Coliseum," Leon began, frowning, as he looked down at the cloak he'd pulled onto his lap. "His name's Cloud. He said he knew Vincent, and that this is his." He jumped as he heard a crash and looked up quickly to find that his friend had dropped the bowls she'd been holding and was currently staring at him. "Aerith? Is something—"

"…Vincent and Cloud are… alive?" she asked hopefully, and the man had a sudden sinking feeling that she and Cloud had been close. Very close. …Close like Cloud wanted to be with _him._ "Are they okay? Did you see Vincent?"

"Well, I didn't see Vincent, but Cloud said he'd kill him if he gave his cloak back with rips in it," the gunblader replied slowly, brows furrowing together. "So I assume he'd be okay if he could kill Cloud. …Cloud's actually somewhere around here… Yuffie came and he just disappeared…" He blinked as the healer rushed past him, grabbing her staff on the way. "Aerith?"

"I'll be out looking for Cloud! Be sure to go to bed on time! I'll stay with Cid and Yuffie at the shop!" Aerith called over her shoulder, before she disappeared outside.

Leon blinked after her in confusion, then sighed and stood to go get the broom to sweep up the broken dishes. He had a feeling that he was in for a bunch of heartache. Aerith hadn't looked that happy since he'd started bringing Ansem's reports back with him, and even then, it hadn't been nearly as happy. She and Cloud must have been very close. Well, he had two hours until he had to go to bed; he might as well clean up the kitchen and start mending Vincent's cloak.

-x-x-x-

Cloud didn't like to be surprised a lot, but when he found himself slammed back into a wall with a pole over his throat sort of pissed him off. Well, it pissed him off until he saw the angry healer pinning him there. Then he felt very, _very_ small.

Aerith glared at him. "Cloud _Strife._ You come back here after _nine years_ of being missing and you don't even come and say 'hello?!'"

"I-I-I didn't—"

"And then you just _leave_ Leon with Vincent's cloak to mend it-! What if Cid sees it?! He was distraught when Vincent didn't follow us-! Where _is_ Vincent, anyway!?"

Wincing, the blond eased the staff away from his throat and moved away from the wall. "Well, he's… he's back at the Coliseum."

"_**CLOUD STRIFE!!!!**_"

Cloud grunted as he was suddenly slammed into the ground. "Ow!"

Yuffie growled and stomped on his head, digging it into the ground, before hopping off of him and turning to glare at him. "I smell Leon's cologne on you! Why?! He wouldn't let you use it!" She narrowed her eyes at him, then gasped in horror. "Oh. My. _God._ Aerith!" Turning to the brunette, she whined. "Cloud's been molesting Leon!"

"How do you _do_ that?!" the swordsman exclaimed, glaring at her. He yelped as this only earned him a whack on the head from his friend's staff. "Ow!"

Aerith glared at him with an even greater fury. "How _dare_ you! Did you just forget about all of us? And then you just go after Leon!"

"I'm sorry, I just thought—" Cloud began, only to be cut off by the ninja.

"HYAA!" And there was a roundhouse kick to the face. Yuffie was more than just a little pissed. "If I have to get him to open up again, I'm gonna kill ya!"

"That's not even the half of it!" Aerith pointed at his still body angrily. "He's seen Vincent!"

The ninja gasped in horror. "He _saw_ him and he didn't send him _here?!_"

"Vincent thinks all of you were swallowed by the Heartless!" the blond exclaimed, struggling to his feet. "He swears he saw them swallow the ship up! I figured he was right! I thought you were dead too!"

The two girls narrowed their eyes at him before nodding. "Alright."

He sighed in relief and rested his hands on his knees, then looked up at them, frowning. "Squall hasn't seemed to withdraw. In fact, Sora seems to be doing a good job of making him open up. I just poke fun at him when I know I can. Touch him when I know he won't flip out."

"Those last two don't exist if you intend for anything romantic," Yuffie retorted, scowling. "He has to invite you to touch him and you can only tease him in response to him teasing you. _And_ you have to call him Leon, or else he gets mad and won't let you get close! I've tried everything to get him to like me! Do you know how long it took me to learn?! Three years!"

"Ah… Really?" The blond looked decidedly concerned. "So then I've been ruining my own chances?"

"You're lucky he hasn't punched you in the nose!" The younger girl blinked for a moment when swordsman just stared at her, then gasped. "He _has_ punched you in the nose!"

"Only three times…"

"…Yuffie, come on. He deserves all of the trouble he gets into," Aerith stated, grabbing her arm to lead her away. "Let him work through the mess he made."

Cloud watched them groan, then sighed and covered his face. _'Shitdamnfuckhell—Aw, man!'_

An apology was in order. …He really sucked at making those…


	11. Traverse Town II: Getting to Know You

Author's Note: I… am horrible. Horribly lazy anyway. Sorry for not replying to last chapter's reviews. LONGER CHAPTER FORGIVEMEPLZ.

And I realize that Leon wouldn't be as talkative as I've made him in this chapter. But, consider this; Squall-turned-Leon probably wouldn't be as talkative as Kingdom Hearts made him, either. And not only that, but now I can cackle as all of you read the title of the chapter and suddenly the song from _The King and I_ is stuck in your heads. I WIN. **:**D

Traverse Town II: Getting to Know You

Cloud felt a pang of guilt when he saw the brunet he'd been 'courting' asleep at the table, arms gathering the crimson cloak under his head as a sort of pillow as he breathed softly. The dishes were done and drying in the dish rack, the counters and floors spotless, and the washer containing what looked like Sora, Donald, and Goofy's clothes was running its last rinse cycle. The small box containing needles and thread for mending was still sitting open on the table, showing that Leon had still been at work when he'd sat down, instead of getting rest which he probably needed desperately.

Well, he knew enough to finish up for him. Pulling the younger man's chair out a little, he scooped him up, smiling a little when the brunet scowled and held the cloak tighter protectively. Leon nuzzled into his chest and sighed, relaxing a little as the blond carefully pushed his chair in with his foot, then began toward the stairs that would lead to one of the rooms.

Cloud smiled at him, taking a moment to memorize the relaxed state of his face. "You're so beautiful, Squall." He couldn't help a small chuckle as the brunet buried his face in his chest, as if in embarrassment. "And so very cute."

He was well aware now that Aerith and Yuffie were very much his protectors. He wasn't sure how they'd met, or how they came to be as close as they had, but he was sure that it didn't matter whether Leon wanted their protection or not; he was stuck with it. It was better to just smile and nod at this point.

The first room he found was empty, and it had a few pictures in it of Leon and various other people—his makeshift family with Cid, Yuffie, and Aerith, some spotted puppies, a few moogles—so he assumed that it was safe to say that this was where Leon frequented. He didn't understand why, though. He had a home with the rest of his family, didn't he? So why stay here? Why not spend his time surrounded by or at least near the people that cared about him?

Trying to pry the cloak out of his hands was a lost cause, so he merely stripped the other man of his jacket, shirt, pants, and socks—and he carefully kept his eyes averted when he realized he wasn't wearing underwear beneath his leather pants. Then, after finding some sleep pants in the small dresser, he covered him in those and pulled the blankets up over him.

Cloud couldn't help a smile when the brunet snuggled deeper under the blankets and hid his face partially beneath the red cloak. "Even with that dark 'I've seen too much' attitude, you're still so full of light. If only you could see it in yourself." He hesitated before leaning down to brush his lips over the brunet's forehead, then turned to leave.

He needed to find out whether he could throw Sora, Donald, and Goofy's clothes in the dryer.

-x-x-x-

"Leon! Time for breakfast! Up and at 'em!"

Leon groaned but rolled out of bed—then he frowned. He could have sworn he'd fallen asleep in the kitchen. Well, he supposed _someone_ had taken him to bed then. It wouldn't be the first time. …It would just be the first time that he didn't wake up. Looking at the red thing that had become wrapped around his torso, he frowned in confusion, before he realized that he'd been mending Vincent's cloak, and he blushed when he realized that he must not have wanted to let go. He'd been told (by Yuffie, Cid, _and_ Aerith) that when he was sleeping, if he was holding something he deemed important, whatever it was would be destroyed before he ever let go of it.

…So was this cloak important to him?

"_LEON! BREAKFAST!_"

"I'm coming!" he called quickly, nearly tripping to reach for his pants. "I'm coming, jeez!"

-x-x-x-

Aerith couldn't help a small grin, then turned to look at Cloud, whom she'd found earlier that morning pinning the Keyblade wielder's clothes to the clothesline she'd had Leon put up a few years ago, when she realized that she'd need it for some of Yuffie's new clothes. So Cloud may not have been any good in the kitchen, but he was good at laundry and keeping the rest of the place clean. Cloud was so extremely odd sometimes, but she loved him that way.

"So, I suppose you carried Leon to bed last night?" she asked, turning back to the fluffy pancakes just waiting to be flipped to finish cooking and be eaten. "He'll want to talk to you, of course. You guys could maybe take a walk through the districts, so Leon can see that everything's still okay with him gone, and it should stay okay if he goes again."

Cloud frowned at her, confused. "…Don't you want him… back?"

Aerith smiled sweetly. "Well, of course we do, Cloud. But when Leon's here, all he does is brood over his life before he came to Traverse Town. It's better for him if he's elsewhere, so he can't brood. Besides, I think Sora will be a good influence on him."

"…Right…"

Both looked up as Leon came down the last few stairs. The brunet blinked at them for a few moments, looking nervous, before asking, "Did I miss something…?"

"…Pancakes!" the older girl stated happily, holding up a platter. "I decided that you and Cloud should get a chance to eat before I called down Sora, Donald, and Goofy!"

The blond rolled his eyes. "Little black holes, all of them."

"Ah. Thanks." Leon sat down at the table and began loading his plate with pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Moments later, he was shoveling all of it into his mouth.

Cloud watched in a sort of awe. This wasn't how the brunet had eaten the other times; it was more reminiscent of Sora eating than prim and proper Leon. And he'd never seen him eat so much in one sitting. Then again, there was a big difference between Aerith Meals and the freeze-dried crap from the Coliseum and the storage in the gummi ship. Perhaps Leon was a closet glutton.

The brunet gulped down his orange juice, then stood and carried his dishes over to the sink. "Thanks, Aerith. Cloud, I finished mending Vincent's cloak, but I left it in my room, so… Aerith, I'm going to go check on the town, see what's happened while I've been gone."

"Okay. Don't go talk to Cid for a while, though," she warned, smiling a little. "You should have heard him when he saw your gummi ship."

"That was _totally_ not my fault!" the brunet cried immediately, blushing lightly. "It was Sora and Donald!"

"…Cid thinks you should have been able to save it."

"That _was_ saving it! We all could have _died!_" Leon blinked for a moment, then frowned and turned toward the blond. "How'd you fix the windshield, anyway?"

Cloud blinked innocently, then smiled. "My little secret."

"…Yeah, okay. I'll be back, Aerith," the brunet stated, before suddenly acquiring a thoughtful expression and digging into his pocket. "Hey, when Sora wakes up, why don't you give him this?" he added, pulling out a deep green stone. "I've been carrying it around for luck. Knowing Sora, he'll figure out something else to do with it."

"Okay." She smiled brightly. "I'll tell him. Have a good time!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay."

Aerith shot Cloud a look and jerked her head for him to follow. "Didn't you want to say something to him?"

He wanted to say that no, he didn't, _she_ had something he wanted to say to Leon, but he was much smarter than that; he didn't want to die. "Yeah. I'm going."

Leon turned in surprise as he heard someone come out immediately after him, then tilted his head, frowning in confusion. "Cloud?"

"…I figured… you might want some company?" He really had no idea what he was talking about. He hoped that was good enough.

The brunet raised an eyebrow, then nodded slowly. "Okay. Sure. Third District gets a little hairy this time of day anyway."

"How can you tell what the time of day is anyway? It's eternal _night_ here. I'd go crazy if I stayed here all the time."

"It's not bad once you get used to it," Leon replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Especially if you've got friends to make it easier."

"Ah." Cloud frowned. "How long have you been here, anyway?"

Leon frowned and crossed his arms thoughtfully. "…Well… I'm not sure. When I got here, I was twelve, but I'm twenty-five now. So that would have been a little less than nine years."

The blond nodded slightly, then frowned and came to a puzzled stop. "…That would make you twenty-one."

"…" The younger man frowned and crossed his arms, then nodded slightly. "Technically yes. But then, also, technically no." Seeing the utterly confused expression on the swordsman's face, he couldn't help a slight smile. "You remember that thing I said back at the Coliseum about going through puberty twice?"

"…Yes," Cloud answered, remembering that the brunet had then proceeded to throw him out of his room for only catching that part.

"…So, altogether, I'm twenty-five. Technically. …You know what, don't question my math; just go with it," the brunet stated, patting him on the shoulder, before he continued on. "It's not my fault you can't understand how I magically got four extra years. …With a little more emphasis on magically."

The blond eyed him skeptically, then decided he'd never be able to comprehend; sometimes he could just strangle himself. "Okay then."

Leon chuckled softly and began walking away. "You know, you're not too bad when you're not molesting me."

"You can't—"

"—Molest the willing, I know," the brunet sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets again. He went a few more steps before stopping and bracing himself.

"_GOOD MORNIIIIIIIIIIING!_"

Grunting, Leon stumbled a little as his friend flew out of nowhere and landed on his back, then began walking again as if she wasn't even there. "You shouldn't scream like that. Some people are still sleeping. …Actually, you're up early; what's wrong?" He sounded unconcerned, but Yuffie knew that if he really had been, he wouldn't have asked.

"Nothing, just had a nightmare. I didn't even need to drink coffee!" the ninja added brightly, letting go of him to land on her feet. She turned, saw the blond that had until then gone unnoticed, then scowled when he turned to dash away. Roaring a battle cry of 'you are _mine_,' she chased after him. "Don't think you can get away from me!"

Leon turned to watch them go, unable to help the corner of his mouth quirking upward. It seemed that Cloud didn't appreciate Yuffie's Good Morning Glomp. Well, when Yuffie was on a mission, she usually didn't stop until she'd succeeded. Or until Cid smacked her upside the head. But he just couldn't see Cid smacking her to save Cloud.

Turning to continue to the Third District, he let his hand trail over to his gunblade. It had been a while since he'd gotten a good workout, at least since they'd battled the Stealth Sneak in Deep Jungle. Cloud and his humongous sword had really cut down on his own experience. And Sora's. Perhaps he should talk to him about letting Sora deal with more of the Heartless than—

He grunted softly as someone ran into him, then looked down in confusion. "…Sorry."

The silver-haired boy blinked up at him in surprise, then smiled a little. "No, I'm sorry. I should have been watching where I was going."

"Let's say we both weren't paying attention and go with that," Leon replied, offering his own half-smile before he glanced at the doors leading to the Third District. "You should probably stay out of the Third District. It's usually crawling with Heartless."

"Ah, okay. Thanks for the advice," he replied, nodding at him, before chuckling softly. "Though my friend would probably be dumb enough to march right in to look for me there anyway. I'm looking for someone—maybe you've seen him? Kinda short, spiky brown hair? …Cries like a baby," he mumbled, glancing to the side.

He wasn't sure about the 'cries like a baby' part, but that sounded like Sora. Rubbing the back of his head, he asked, "You mean Sora? He should be back at the hotel. You want me to walk you there?"

The boy—he assumed it was Riku now—shook his head. "Nah, I'm sure I can find it. Thanks, though," he replied, then waved as he began walking away.

Once he was sure that Riku was out of sight, Leon shivered and rubbed his arms as if cold; his Darkness senses were tingling unpleasantly. He just had no idea what it could be. It couldn't be Riku; he was friends with Sora! …Perhaps it was because he was so close to the Third District. That must be it.

Sighing, he grabbed his gunblade and kicked the door open, pleased when he was immediately met with a dozen Shadows; at least he'd get a good workout.

He wasn't disappointed. Every time he turned, there were more Heartless, though not so many that he was overwhelmed. He enjoyed the workout, and he also enjoyed watching the munny he got from the Heartless scatter across the ground. Would it be wrong of him to say he loved getting munny? Well, he could always say that he'd picked it up from Yuffie.

Leon blinked as a giant shuriken went flying past him, then frowned as it took out the Heartless in front of him. _'…Will I never get to fight Heartless in peace? This is karma for not fighting at the Coliseum with Sora, Donald and Goofy, isn't it?'_

"Hey, Squally! Cid wants to talk to you about the gummi ship!" Yuffie exclaimed, running up beside him to catch her shuriken. "Said somethin' about reaming you!"

"…Goodie." The brunet sighed and let his head fall forward. "It wasn't my fault."

She shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what to tell you, Leon."

Leon rubbed the back of his head absently and sliced through a Shadow as it popped up beside him, then looked back at her. "Hey, there was this silver-haired kid looking for Sora. I sent him to the hotel."

"Oh." Yuffie frowned and tapped her fingers together anxiously. "…I don't think Sora was there. I saw him coming out when I chased Cloud back that way."

The gunblader groaned. "Oh, God, I just started a game of tag."

"…You should probably get going," the ninja stated, patting his arm in an attempt to comfort him. "Or else Cid's going to scream your ear off."

He sighed, then groaned again and turned to trudge to the First District. "Fuck, I never win."

"Aw, silly Leon! Of course you don't!" Yuffie called after him sweetly. "The worlds are out to get you!"

"…Doesn't help when you're being mauled by some pervert," Leon mumbled to himself, absently cutting through some Heartless on his way through the door. "I can't believe I got him playing tag with Sora. It's like before we even left and Donald and Goofy were looking for Sora. No one could find anybody."

"You know talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity," Cloud commented, raising an eyebrow at him.

Leon turned and blinked at him for a few moments, then sent him his own skeptical look. "Should you really be one to talk? Because you're obviously not all there." He didn't allow the blond to reply, though, as he felt not his Darkness senses going crazy, but his Cid-is-Pissed senses pinging off the wall. These senses took priority over everything—including Aerith sometimes, as long as Aerith wasn't pissed off too.

Walking into the accessory shop, he braced himself for the ass-kicking he knew was coming and looked up at him. "I was told I was in for a reaming."

"You bet yer ass!" Cid exclaimed, slamming his hands down on the counter. "Li'l pipsqueak just came in, asked me what a navigation gummi was when I mentioned you'd brought one in! How could ya let people _that_ dumb near the controls of a gummi ship!?"

"It's not my gummi ship, it's Donald and Goofy's," Leon explained, sighing. "I can't exactly just kick them off the controls."

"Sure ya can! Your boot's big enough—just shove it up their ass!" the man grumbled, then reached into his pocket for a cigarette.

The brunet gave him an unapproving look. "Cid…"

"Damn it, ya kids need t' let me smoke sometime!" the man complained, shoving the pack back into his pocket. "Got enough stress with one of ya leavin' t' travel the worlds and the others just tryin' t' cope without ya! I GOT STRESS!" he roared, making the younger man quickly cover his ears as he winced back.

Leon squeezed his eyes shut, then looked back up at him in annoyance. "I hope you paid Merlin for that potion he brews for my migraines. …They're starting again."

"Dagnabbit! It's 'cause you're trompin' around with that spiky-haired kid, ain't it!?" Cid shook a finger at him. "You just tell that spiky pain in the ass that he needs t' listen t' ya! My orders!"

"…Right." The brunet smiled a little and crossed his arms. "So, did you see what they did to their gummi ship?"

The older man scowled. "I don't _even_ know how th' hell you made it back here in one piece!"

"…Right. I'm gonna go see Merlin about that potion," Leon replied, shaking his head as he turned to walk back out. "…A kid with silver hair didn't walk in here, did he?" He said it with the possible hope that he _hadn't_ sent Sora's friend on a game of 'building tag.'

He was disappointed.

"Yeah, lookin' for spiky," Cid mumbled, reaching for his cigarettes again. "Sent him t' Merlin's, 'cause Sora was taking a book over t' him for me."

"…Oh."

"Well, I'm gonna go catch a smoke." The blond scowled when he got another look of disapproval. "I'm gonna do it outside, ya sulky pain in the ass. 'sides, I haven't had one since last night."

Leon snorted and opened the door to leave. "I'm sure."

"What happened t' respectin' yer elders?!" Cid roared after him, and the gunblader couldn't help a chuckle at his expense.

He blinked in surprise as he found Cloud leaning against the wall, waiting for him, then frowned a little. "…Hey…"

"You get migraines?" the blond questioned, tilting his head innocently.

"You know, you really look like a chocobo when you tilt your head like that," Leon commented, then began walking away again.

Cloud blinked, then scowled and began following him. "I am _not_ a chocobo! I don't _look_ like a chocobo! I am the _anti-chocobo!_"

"Ah, looks like I hit a nerve. I'd say I'm sorry, but… I'm not." The brunet chuckled as he made through the waterway. "It's just something that's always happened to me, this getting migraines. I don't know why. Merlin's nice enough to make a potion that I can take when I feel one starting. Do you think I could convince Vincent to come back with us to Traverse Town?"

The blond almost got whiplash. As it was, he stared at the younger man in surprise and confusion; he'd been talking about himself and then all of the sudden HELLO VINCENT. What the hell?

Leon looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "Cid misses him."

"…Right. I don't know if Hades himself could kick him out of the Coliseum," Cloud replied, turning his gaze to his feet. "Vincent… He's a pretty moody guy. Broods more than you and I combined. I don't think he'd even believe you if you told him that Cid, Aerith, and Yuffie are okay."

The brunet tilted his head thoughtfully. "Huh. I'm sure I could do something."

"Right, well, good luck with that—" the blond began, only to turn his head sharply as the bell began to ring.

Leon rolled his eyes. "It's the bell above the Gizmo shop. You're going to give yourself a heart attack."

"I am not—"

"Just… try not to kill yourself," the brunet sighed, before he went into Merlin's house. "I'll be out in a minute."

Cloud scowled and crossed his arms. "I can't kill myself just hanging around waiting for you." He jumped again as the bell—which he'd just been informed was above the Gizmo shop—rang again.

Ah… So much for that thought.

-x-x-x-

"So, did Riku finally find you?" Leon asked, reaching out to ruffle the teen's hair as he passed him for the refrigerator.

"Yeah. He disappeared though. But at least I know he's okay," Sora replied, reaching up to fix his hair. "He's tough and can take care of himself. Oh! By the way, that shiny rock you had Aerith give me? The Fairy Godmother says that it's a summoning stone! Now I can summon him," he added, holding up the rock in the light and squinting at it. "…When I restore the worlds, he'll go back."

The gunblader nodded thoughtfully. "Ah. Makes sense."

"I hope yer friend's okay out there," Cid mumbled, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Heard Maleficent's in town."

Yuffie spit out her soda all over Leon. Then again, that was okay, because Leon spit out his soda all over her too. "_Whaaaat?!?!?!?_"

Sora blinked at them innocently, then looked up at the older man. "Who's that?"

"She's a witch! Crazy one, at that," the blond replied, then reached for his cigarettes reflexively.

Leon nodded, absently wiping some soda from his face. "She's the reason this town's so full of Heartless. Don't take her lightly."

Aerith slapped Cid's hand away from his pocket without even looking. "She's been using the Heartless for years."

"Yuckyuckyuckyuckyuck you got soda all _over_ me!" Yuffie squealed, rushing over to the sink to clean herself with the sponge. Turning toward the blinking brunet, duck, and dog innocently watching her, she added, "We lost our world thanks to her! The Heartless just swallowed it up!"

Cid nodded, rubbing the back of his hand as she shot the healer a glare. "Yup. That was about nine years ago. Lost some good friends."

"Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem," Aerith explained, smiling sadly. "He dedicated his life to researching the Heartless."

Cid crossed his arms and mumbled, "Then he died when the world was taken over."

"We don't know he's dead yet he could still be alive somewhere!" Yuffie exclaimed, flailing for a moment, before rinsing the sponge to continue trying to dab the soda off.

"…Odds are… no," Cid replied blandly, then in one of his many acts of immaturity, he stuck his tongue out at her. "Respect yer elders, brat!"

"Well, I guess you _are_ elderly—" the ninja began, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

Aerith shot them both a strained smile. "Please don't start."

In other words, _"I'll make you both do chores you hate for WEEKS."_

"So where's this report?" Donald asked, crossing his arms. "It could be helpful."

"Sure the witch has most of 'em," Cid snorted in disdain. "Anyway. If you're ready t' leave, I installed that navigation gummi. Threw in a warp gummi just fer the hell of it."

Sora tilted his head. "What's a warp gummi?"

The blond's eye twitched. "…_You_ do not get t' control the ship. _Ever._ EVER!" he roared, making the Keylade wielder shrink back.

"Meep!"

"What about when Goofy and I want to sleep?" Donald complained—sure, Sora had crashed them once, but only because he's slammed his hand down on the control panel.

"Then _that one_ will do it," Cid replied, pointing at Leon. "He's good with gummi ships. Good with electronics in general. SO DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"

Donald and Goofy shrank back with the Keyblade wielder. "Meep!"

"…I'm gonna go wash my face and change my shirt. I'll meet you guys at the gummi dock," Leon stated, turning to leave the house. "Glad to know I'm just 'that one,' Cid. …Yuffie must be right. You're elderly if you're forgetting even my name."

"WHAT'D YOU SAY, YA SULKY PAIN IN THE ASS?!?!" the man roared, but Leon quickly shut the door behind himself before any spears could be thrown.

Cloud raised an eyebrow as there as a metallic thunk on the door. "…What was that?"

"Probably Cid's spear," Leon answered casually, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Come get Vincent's cloak. I'm going to wash up real quick and then we're meeting Sora at the gummi dock."

At that, the blond's eyes began to glow a little, and he followed obediently. "I'm sure I can help you… _wash up._"

The brunet scowled and turned to glare at him for a moment. He was satisfied when only a moment later the 'anti-chocobo' covered his nose and took a few hurried steps backward.

Well, he couldn't say Cloud wasn't learning.


	12. Agrabah: Wardrobe Malfunctions

Author's Note: Has anyone else ever noticed the awkward spelling of "Agrabah?" It looks normal for a few glances, but after you look at it a while, it looks wrong. "What? That's not the way it's spelled! Outrageous!" And then you realize, no, it is spelled that way. There are just some words I hate. Agrabah is one of them.

Also… I never actually played through Agrabah. I always got someone else to play through it. I think I actually _enjoy_ playing through Deep Jungle compared to Agrabah. I don't know why that is. So this chapter might be… lacking. Sorry.

Agrabah: Wardrobe Malfunctions

'_Hello, my name is Leon. I'm a foster-son of Cid Highwind and I'm sure he'd love to see you again.'_ Leon snorted and crossed his arms, scowling. Yeah, like that would ever make a total angst-bucket come out of self-seclusion. He'd probably have better luck saying, _'Hey, I know where Cid Highwind is, and he needs to seriously get laid.'_

It was true, but it would be extremely rude to say so.

Well, he'd work on it later.

He looked over at Sora, where he was blasting away at Heartless ships, then glanced at Donald and Goofy, who were at the controls. Finally, he looked at Cloud, who had been strangely quiet the entire time. Growing worried, he reached over and moved to poke him, but stopped. _'…Anti-chocobo my __**ass.**__'_

Cloud let out a yelp as one of his spikes was yanked on and turned, scandalized. "What was that for!?"

"…You are not the anti-chocobo," Leon replied, smirking.

Before the blond could reply, Donald cut in saying they'd found another world and were landing. The immature part of Leon that Yuffie had somehow managed to nurture took that moment to bask in the joy of winning the argument that really wasn't an argument. He supposed he might yell at Yuffie later, for making him find such satisfaction in something so stupid, but… he needed a little satisfaction right now.

As soon as the doors of the gummi ship opened, they were met with a burst of hot, sand-filled air.

Sora let out a sigh and jumped off the ship. "Ah, just like the summers at home, right before a thunder storm!" He smiled brightly. "Can you say 'nostalgia?'"

…Leon hadn't even known that Sora _knew_ big words.

Stepping off the ship as well, the gunblader was relieved to feel the small ripple of magic that Merlin always placed on the gummi ships to help them blend in, and he was glad that they'd borrowed one of Cid's ships until he managed to… fix… Donald and Goofy's.

In other words, Cid was scrapping their old ship and making a new one that would basically be a perfect replica. They didn't need to know that their original ship deserved a funeral instead of fixing.

The group jumped as they heard a high-pitched yelp and turned sharply, only to find Cloud staring down at his clothes in horror. His metal claw and shoulder guard were missing, along with his shirt and the metal hip guard that usually hung from his belt. Even his wing had changed, covered in a light sheen of white liquid.

Leon tilted his head, then looked down to see if his outfit had changed that much. No, his jacket and pants had just lightened to a shade of gray, and the zipper down the sides of his pants had been replaced by laces, allowing a little air inside so he didn't sweat to death inside them. Wait, what was that on his wrist? That hadn't been there before!

…It looked like a hair-tie. And he realized that the feeling of his hair on the back of his neck made him want to chop it all off. He could lose a little dignity and pull it back out of the way, he supposed.

"…Is… your wing covered with _sunscreen?_" Sora asked after a moment, pointing to the blond's wing.

"_What the hell happened to me?!_" the swordsman exclaimed, then turned to look over his shoulder and see if anything _else_ had happened to him. What else could have happened in the back, however, no one could really understand. "…I need my shirt! I burn easily!"

"…You're so… lame," Leon stated, then sighed and shook his head, taking a moment to pull his hair back as he turned to walk away. "If you've got sunscreen on your wing you've got sunscreen on the rest of you; Merlin's magic would have seen to it. Where do we want to go first?" he continued, turning to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"…I vote somewhere we can get real food!" Sora replied, nodding firmly.

Donald and Goofy looked like they might object, but then their stomachs growled as well, making the decision unanimous.

"…O-kay, food stall it is," the older man stated, then smacked Cloud's arm comfortingly. "Come on, you'd probably die in all of that stuff anyway. You'll get it back when we get back on the ship, you wimp." He looked back at the others and raised an eyebrow. "You guys want something to snack on or do you want something substantial?"

"I would like to snack!" the younger brunet declared, hurrying after him.

"Well, we could pick up some sugar dates or pistachios or something then. You like those?"

As the Keyblade Wielder and the King's attendants informed him that they had, in fact, never heard of such things, Cloud looked down at his altered outfit. Well, at least he still had Vincent's cape to keep him partially covered. He'd always felt a little self-conscious, because he was naturally pale. Of course, all of that stuff about burning easily was utter bull shit, because of the mako in his veins, but he just hadn't wanted to be so… naked.

Then again, this fashion change was sort of okay, because know he could see bits of Leon's creamy legs through the laces used for seams on his pants, and he had nearly jumped him when this especially exposed the fact that he wasn't wearing any underwear.

However, it would be highly inappropriate to do so in front of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, so he'd have to drag Leon back here some other time to molest him properly.

-x-x-x-

"Do you like pistachios, Leon? I don't know if I do yet. They have a weird aftertaste," Sora stated, popping a few more of the nuts into his mouth.

"…I'll eat them if they're the only thing available," Leon replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Don't worry, Sora. They'll grow on you." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed as he felt a dull throb behind his eyes; he had a migraine forming. As they came to a dead end, he paused to take out the potion Merlin had brewed for him.

"Who's there? Hello?"

At this, the group turned in confusion to find a girl with long black hair and a blue shirt, pants, and slippers climbing out from behind some boxes. Cloud reached out to help her over them and frowned. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jasmine," she replied, dusting some sand from her knees. "My father is the Sultan of Agrabah."

"Gawrsh! Wouldn't that make you the princess?" Goofy asked, tilting his head.

Jasmine nodded. "Yes, but my father's been deposed by Jafar. Now he controls the entire city."

"…Uh…" The others looked at each other in confusion.

Luckily, they had Goofy, who tilted his head the other way, brow rising in confusion. "Jafar?"

"You… haven't heard of him?" she asked slowly, looking just as confused as they did. "I thought everyone had."

"…We've just arrived here, so we have no idea what's going on," Leon stated, to which she nodded in understanding.

"I see. Well, Jafar is—was—our royal vizier. He's gained evil powers and seized Agrabah! He's looking for something called… something called the 'Keyhole.'" She frowned in confusion, then shook her head. "I don't know what the Keyhole is, but I assume it must be important. Jafar caught me trying to escape but… _he_ helped me." She then acquired a dreamy, faraway look.

"…" As the group glanced at each other silently, trying to figure out what to ask and how to ask it, they didn't notice anything amiss—but Leon _did_ feel his Darkness Senses tingling. He shivered a little and looked around anxiously.

"…Who helped you?" Sora inquired after another few moments of silence.

Jasmine's face fell worriedly. "Well, we were hiding nearby, but he left a while ago to take care of something… Oh, I hope Aladdin's alright…"

"Aladdin?" the others repeated softly, raising eyebrows.

Leon's Darkness Senses went on Red Alert.

"Aladdin? Where might I find this street rat?"

Leon nearly hissed as a man in long red and black robes appeared on a ledge above them. At the orphanage, he hadn't been a street rat, but that didn't mean some people didn't still treat him like one until he proved his worth with his gunblade. Hearing this man who reeked of Darkness Creepy Crawlies talk about 'street rats' with such loathing pissed him off a little. Actually… it pissed him off a lot.

Jafar smirked. "Jasmine, allow me to find you some more suitable company, my dear princess." He shot the rest of the group a look of pure disdain; Leon's indignance grew. "These little rats won't do, you see."

Leon snarled and grabbed Lion Heart angrily. This was personal. "I'll _kill you!_"

"Jasmine, run!" Sora exclaimed, grabbing his Keyblade to ready for battle as well.

She didn't need to be told twice. Looking over her shoulder as she ran, she called back a quick, "Good luck!"

Jafar raised an eyebrow. "Ah, the boy who holds the key. Hmm…" He appeared thoughtful.

Leon growled as he made some Heartless appear in front of him and turned toward the blond quickly as he made to go into battle too. "_No!_ You stay there, damn you! I _need_ to destroy something and _you make that hard!_"

Cloud lifted his hands in what he hoped was a placatory manner. "Okay, fine. Just calm down." When the brunet continued to glare, he took a step back, covering his nose protectively.

Leon scowled at him a moment longer, then turned and began hacking at the Heartless with an angry snarl.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy hesitated before leaping in to help him. Cloud frowned and crossed his arms as he watched them. Something must have _really_ rubbed Leon the wrong way to make him so angry he'd ask him to stay back. Not that the creepy old guy coming onto the teenage princess was settling to him, either. It would have been like… Hojo getting it on with Tifa or Aerith.

Oh dear God, he was going to make himself vomit!

Leon yelped and grabbed Sora as he threw himself to the ground, just in time to dodge the Meteor blast that came at them and destroyed a few Large Bodies. "Oh shit!"

Sora blinked at the charred sand in front of them as they sat up, then acquired a horrified expression when he realized _it could have been __**him.**_ "Oh my God! What the hell was that?!"

At that, the group turned to find Cloud retching behind some barrels. It appeared that he'd attacked, and then vomited. …There must be an interesting reason behind that. Leon wasn't sure he wanted to know. "…Cloud?"

The blond stood up straight as if nothing had happened and blinked at him for a moment, then raised an eyebrow. "…Yes?"

"…What was—"

"_It's like Hojo getting it on with Aerith or Tifa!_"

Leon frowned in confusion as the blond turned and resumed puking his guts out, then glanced at Sora. "…_You_ don't know a 'Hojo,' do you?"

The Keyblade Master tilted his head. "My pediatrician's name is Hojo, but he's a pretty young guy, so I don't think he's the same person Cloud's talking about. I think he's comparing Jafar to someone he used to know."

"…Okay, gross," the gunblader stated, standing up, before looking around and sighing. "…So, where do we look for Jasmine now?"

"Well, she went that way," Donald pointed out, then frowned as Cloud groaned loudly. "…Should one of us stay with him?"

"Maybe Leon should. I saw him taking that potion earlier that Merlin said was for his migraines. You should take a break," Sora suggested, looking up at him.

Leon blinked in surprise, then nodded slightly. "Okay. It takes a little bit for it to start working anyway. Just make sure not to get into trouble, okay? …I'll pick up some sandesh before we leave and we can eat it on the way to the next world."

"What's sandesh?" Goofy asked, scratching his head.

"It's a sweet I decided I liked the last time I visited."

Donald squawked in disbelief. "We're searching for worlds when you know exactly where they are?!"

"…You never asked me," Leon replied, which only seemed to frustrate the duck further. "I can drive next time, if you want." As the duck began jumping up and down and shouting at him, he sighed, then turned and walked over to Cloud, who seemed to be doing okay now. "What was that all about, anyway?"

Cloud wiped his mouth and glared—not at Leon, but just in general. "I just thought of something and decided I didn't like it."

"…Okay." Leon raised an eyebrow at him and crossed his arms. "Are you going to share?"

"…_No,_" the blond replied with so much force that the younger man was startled. "I don't want to explain it and you don't want to know about it. Okay?"

The gunblader blinked at him for a few minutes before shrugging. "Fine. Just chill out." After a few moments of awkward silence, he turned to walk away. "I'm going to find some sandesh."

Cloud scowled; he had the brunet alone, in a secluded alleyway. Why would he ever let that go to waste?

Leon squeaked in the back of his throat as the blond's arms wrapped around his waist and stiffened automatically. "What are you doing?!"

The older man growled and buried his face in the brunet's neck. "You look so sexy like this…"

"…It's like, three shades lighter than my regular clothes!" Leon exclaimed, outraged. "What's the matter with you?!"

"Leon, have you not noticed… these?" the blond asked, plucking at the laces at his hip.

"…Oh. I forgot." The brunet blushed a little, then began struggling anew. "Let go of me! It's too hot for this!"

"Are you saying you might indulge in this somewhere cooler?"

Leon growled and stomped on his foot. "Well, I wasn't trying to outright say no, but since you're not giving me much of a choice—_no!_"

Cloud winced a little, then sighed and allowed the brunet out of his embrace. "What do I have to do to make you like me?"

"Well, you can stop _manhandling_ me! That might make a good impression!" the gunblader replied, glaring at him. "And stop being a pervert! And maybe _not_ molesting me!"

"…" After a few minutes of thought, the blond replied, "I can stop manhandling you."

Leon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, I suppose that's a step up. Though I'd rather you choose the molesting one." Suddenly, the vision of Cloud tossing him over his shoulder and carrying him away to places of unknown origin crossed his mind. Cloud would probably call it 'seducing' instead of 'molesting,' just to be able to continue to do it, and technicality he'd still be in the right. "On second thought, no, that's fine. …Stop staring at my ass."

Cloud huffed but lifted his gaze. "Where'd Sora, Donald, and Goofy go?"

"Probably somewhere they'll get into tons of trouble. I'm not too worried, though; Sora's aim with his magic has gotten better, and he seems surer of himself when he fights with his Keyblade." The brunet blinked as he heard what sounded like an explosion, then turned just in time to see brightly colored flashes from over the wall of the city. He sighed. "But I've been wrong before."

"I didn't know that amateurs at magic could make explosions that big," Cloud commented.

Leon turned to glare at him. "Why are you just standing there?! Come on! They could be really hurt!"

"…Knowing their luck, they're probably not," the blond mumbled, but hurried after him nonetheless.


	13. Agrabah: Grumps and Bobbles

Author's Note: Why yes, I do hate Agrabah almost as much as I hate Deep Jungle. I KEEP GETTING LOST. Forgive me if this chapter is lacking. I will make up for it in Monstro. Also… I'M SORRY I DIDN'T REPLY TO YOUR REVIEWS AGAIN ARGH I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON!!!!! *dies*

Also. Ignore the major OOCness. I'm sorry for that. **:/**

Agrabah: Grumps and Bobbles

Leon didn't want to lose his temper. Unfortunately, he was at the end of his rope; he was hot, he was tired, he had to keep an eye on Cloud, and _he couldn't find Sora, Donald, and Goofy._

"!!!!!!!!"

Cloud jumped a little, turning from looking at some doodle-bobs, and frowned as he noticed the brunet strangling an invisible entity in front of him. "…Are you okay?"

"DO I _LOOK OKAY!?_" Leon snarled, glaring at him.

The blond took a step back. He did not his nose broken again—especially if he had done nothing to deserve it. "…I guess not."

"Do you know what could happen to them if we're not there?!" the gunblader hissed. "Someone could come and take advantage of them! They're naïve! And Sora's _molestable!_ What if someone separated him from Donald and Goofy and took advantage of him!? What if they rape and murder him?! AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Cloud was appalled. "_My_ fault? How is losing them _my_ fault?"

"_You're_ the one that was puking his guts out, and Sora suggested I stay with you! It's your fault because you got sick!" Leon exclaimed, pointing at him.

"If I recall correctly, _you_ were left behind because you'd started to get a migraine."

"Of course I was starting to get a migraine! One of my triggers is dry heat!"

"…You're _grumpy_ when it's hot," the blond mumbled, scowling, then heaved the older man over his shoulder. "Just shut up and I'll _fly_ us over to where we saw those fireworks."

The brunet huffed. "I'd get angry, but right now I don't see any other choice!" He frowned as he heard the sounds of crockery being broken, then sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that if we find broken pots, we'll find Sora?"

"He doesn't have a fighter's grace quite yet," Cloud agreed, turning in the direction of the noise. As he went to land, though, he was spun around as something rushed past him—much too quickly for his liking. "Ack!"

"If you drop me I'll rip out your wing!" Leon warned, unable to help gripping onto his arm. "If I go down, I'm taking you with me!"

"It's not _my_ fault I was cut off by a… flying… carpet…"

Leon blinked, then turned to look over his shoulder to find Sora, Donald, Goofy, and another boy getting on a carpet, which then lifted into the air and began for the edge of the city. "…What just happened?"

"I believe we just saw the Keyblade Wielder fly off with a native of this world with the King's attendants in tow," Cloud replied. "…Shall we follow him?"

"…Just to make sure he doesn't hurt himself," the brunet sighed, then rested his chin on his hand. "Tallyho."

The swordsman smiled a little. "That's the smart ass we all know and adore."

"Shut it."

-x-x-x-

"…I don't like this world," Cloud decided, resting his sword on his shoulder. "The pots and sand come to life." He paused. "…And the Heartless carry knives. I don't like that either."

Leon struck the large lion head of sand one last time (narrowly saving Donald from losing one of his legs), then landed lightly a few feet away from him. "Nag, nag, nag."

"Don't be silly; I'm obviously whining, not nagging."

Sora glanced between them for a moment, raising an eyebrow, before smiling brightly. "Thanks for saving us, guys. Oh! This is Aladdin. He's head over heels for Jasmine."

Aladdin blushed a little. "Hey!"

The group turned sharply as the sand began to move again, but was relieved when the guardian merely opened its mouth.

"…Well, we did all that work; let's go in!" Sora exclaimed cheerfully, beginning to march toward the gaping maw.

"…I don't like this," Cloud repeated, but moved to follow him as well.

Leon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He hadn't had a chance to take another swig of Merlin's special potion, and now there was a pounding in the back of his skull, strangely reminiscent of his injury in Deep Jungle. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he frowned and looked up. "…Goofy?"

"Gawrsh, Leon, are you still feelin' sick?" Goofy asked in concern. "Maybe you should stay up here."

The brunet smiled slightly. "I'm fine, Goofy. I just need to take a little more potion and have a little more fresh air before I go down. I'll catch up with you, okay?"

"If you think you're well enough," Goofy agreed after a moment, frowning, before following the others down the steps.

Leon sighed again, then sat down heavily. He hated the heat; it made his skull pound, no matter how much of Merlin's potion he drank. The potion only succeeded in dulling the pain for a while. He could only hope that none of the other worlds he went to would be as hot; then, he wouldn't have to worry about migraines or illness or—or even losing his temper! The heat did things to him! …There was a reason he used ice spells more often than the others (barring curaga, which anyone in their right mind would use more often, thank you very much).

Fighting in hot weather made him fatigued much faster, also. He just didn't know why that was; he figured it was the same with Yuffie tiring out in small areas. She didn't have a lot of room to move around, and with her style of fighting (stab and flee, then throw her giant shuriken), she needed lots of room to move around. Small areas made her work much harder. That was the same for him in hot areas.

Perhaps it had happened when he'd lost his guardian forces. Shiva had been like his other half, and then she'd been torn away, and he had no idea what had happened.

That's when his heat-induced migraines started. Perhaps he'd kept a little piece of Shiva after all.

Leon blinked as he heard a small explosion of some sort from inside the Cave of Wonders, then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. _'Do I really want to go down and see what happened? …It was either Sora or Cloud, I'm sure of it. The question is… do I care?'_ After a few minutes of trying to convince himself he didn't care, the brunet sighed again and got to his feet. _'They'll kill themselves without me.'_

-x-x-x-

"Open…"

"…The door?"

Leon glanced between the King's attendants momentarily, then turned to Cloud. "What'd I miss?"

"Well, Maleficent was here, but she disappeared as soon as she saw us, then we noticed that Jafar had used one of his wishes to expose this world's keyhole," Cloud began, counting on his fingers. Aladdin yelled for Jafar to let Jasmine go, and he said no because she was needed to open some sort of door. Well, she and six other princesses, anyway. That pretty much gets you up to speed."

"…It's not _a_ door, you idiot! It's _the_ door!" Leon exclaimed in frustration, throwing his hands up. "_The_ door! You know about the door, right?!"

"…I know about a lot of doors," the blond stated, frowning.

The gunblader sighed loudly; these people were making him sigh a lot. "Never mind. I give up. What are we doing?"

"Genie! My second wish! Crush them!"

Leon wanted to bash his skull against a wall. "Why am I always here when the fighting starts? Is my timing really that horrible?" After a moment, he sighed again—_again!_—and grabbed his gunblade. "Well, let's get this over with then." He blinked as Cloud dashed past him with his sword at the ready, then rolled his eyes. _'Why do I even bother?'_

"ACK! …CLOUD, YOU'RE GONNA KILL US!"

'…_I suppose that's why.'_

"This place is too small for all of us to fight! Just… distract Genie or something!" Leon ordered, shoving the blond away from accidentally hurting their other companions.

Cloud let out a squawk of outrage. "Why am _I_ always the one that has to sit out fights?!"

"Because your sword could accidentally cleave someone's limb off, now let us focus on the battle!"

The blond huffed, then turned to look at the giant blue man and scowled. "…Well, I suppose it's my job to distract you from attacking the others."

"Oh, would you!? I wouldn't want to hurt Al or his friends," Genie replied hopefully.

Cloud scowled. "I really don't like this world."

-x-x-x-

"…I _hate_ this world," Cloud decided finally, glaring at the lava surrounding them, before turning his angry gaze to the red and black genie above them. "I'm not dealing with that. I _refuse!_"

Aladdin pointed at Iago. "The lamp! All we have to do is get the lamp!"

Iago let out a squawk as both Sora and Cloud leapt for him and flew upward. Cloud was close to catching him, but he was suddenly forced downward when a large shoe pressed against his head. Sora leapt off of him to grab the lamp and landed triumphantly. "Haha! Back in your lamp, ugly genie man!"

"Nooo! I can't be beaten by some mere street rats!" the genie exclaimed angrily, fighting against the pull of the lamp, before letting out a surprised cry as a flaming bullet suddenly hit him in the head. He was then sucked into the lamp.

Leon frowned as Donald and Goofy turned to raise their eyebrows at him. "…What?"

"…I'm glad you're feelin' better, Leon!" Goofy replied, smiling.

Donald grumbled about brunets and mood swings—whether he was talking about Leon or Sora was to be debated. …Goofy figured he meant them both.

"Did you just use my head as a springboard?!" Cloud exclaimed, turning to glare at the Keyblade Master.

Sora frowned. "Well, I wouldn't have been able to catch it without a little help…"

"_I HATE THIS WORLD!_"

"…Let's… just go get Jasmine," Leon decided, edging between the teen and the angry chocobo. "…Don't make any sudden movements and you should be fine." He made his way toward the blond as he fumed and growled and grumbled to himself. "Cloud? …Are you okay?"

"This world sucks. I don't care if I get to see your legs—damn you and your laced up _seams_—I HATE. THIS. WORLD." Cloud made a sound akin to a snarl and looked about ready to kill someone.

The brunet sighed and leaned his face in his hand, weighing the pros and cons of what he was about to do. _'…If I don't do it, he's just going to blow up. *sigh* Well, I've practically kissed my dignity goodbye anyway.'_ Hesitating just one more second, he glanced up at the blond before reaching around giving the base of his wing a firm rub.

"—And I wish that—_yee!_" Cloud jerked forward in surprise, then turned to give the older man a stunned stare.

"…What? I can't pet your wing?" Leon asked defensively, scowling. He blinked as the ground rumbled beneath them, then turned away sharply. "I vote we catch up to Sora and leave."

"Wha—bu—I—we— …I HATE THIS WORLD!"

-x-x-x-

"So… we're just letting Sora deal with Aladdin, then?" Cloud asked, raising an eyebrow.

Leon shrugged as he began looking for something shiny to take back to Yuffie; he'd already found a nice bracelet for Aerith and some smokes for Cid. "I figure Sora will be able to break it to him gently. And if he can't, Donald and Goofy will tell them about muddling and meddling and break it gently anyway."

"Hmm… I'd hate to have to stick around someplace while someone else rescued my girl," the blond stated, then began to casually slip his arm over the other man's shoulders.

He didn't even look up from his browsing. "I will break your nose. I swear to God."

"…Cock blocker…"

"Actually, it's your nose. Would you _like_ me to go after your—"

The blond looked appalled. "_No_, I would not like you to go after my dick! You Bouncy Wild!"

Leon rolled his eyes, then caught sight of some metallic spheres that seemed to glow with some sort of strange light sitting in a large metal box. Making his way over to them, he picked one up. It was surprisingly light, as if made of glass, but felt resistant to any type of damage. Tossing it gently and catching it again, he paused, then smiled a little; it appeared he'd found something for Yuffie.

"How much for all of these?" he asked, looking up at the peddler.

"All of them?" The peddler blinked. "But they are just pretty bobbles; they cannot be made into jewelry."

Leon smiled a little. "I have a feeling that my friend won't mind. I'll take the box, too; how much for that?"

"I will make you a bargain. Ten thousand munny for all of it!"

The brunet paused in reaching for his wallet. "Ten thous-! That's supposed to be a bargain?! I won't pay more than five thousand for it!"

The peddler narrowed his eyes at him. "…Eight thousand."

"…Fifty-five hundred!"

"Seven thousand."

"Six thousand. …And fifty-seven."

"Fine. Six thousand and fifty-seven munny for all of them and the box," the peddler agreed, holding his hand out for the money.

Leon stared at him in disbelief. Why would anyone settle for such a weird number?! …Whatever. It was best not to think about these sorts of things.

Handing over the money, he huffed quietly and closed the box, then picked it up and began walking away. "Come on; we need to pick up some sweets for Sora, Donald, and Goofy, so they don't feel so bad for losing Jasmine."

"…I think it might take a mountain of sweets if you add Alice to the list of Girls Kidnapped in Front of Us," Cloud mumbled, rolling his eyes, but followed him nonetheless.

When they returned to the gummi ship, it was to a much subdued trio of companions.

Leon frowned and shifted his weight from foot to foot, then reached out and ruffled Sora's hair. "Don't worry, Sora. We'll find them." When then younger boy only sighed, he rubbed the back of his head and looked away. "…Well, I have faith in you, even if you're feeling too down to realize it. And look; Cloud bought you some chocolate."

Sora looked up at the blond hopefully. "Really?"

"But I didn't— …Yeah," Cloud answered, sighing, then offered the younger boy a hunk of chocolate that he hadn't, in fact, bought, but had volunteered to carry. "This is just a minor setback, Sora. Keep your chin up; we'll find them in no time."

"…Yeah," Sora agreed after a minute, smiling a little.

"I'll drive, if you and Goofy want a break," Leon offered, turning to Donald and Goofy. "I'll be able to get us to the next world faster anyway, since I know where it is. Or, at least, the general direction; I've gotten there from Traverse Town, but it might take me a little longer to navigate from here."

Donald eyed him for a moment suspiciously, but after remembering his close save in Deep Jungle, he nodded. "Okay. Wake us up when we get there, then."

After storing his gifts for his 'family' safely, he sat down at the controls and glanced at their coordinates for a few minutes before deciding that just a few tweaks in his mental map would get them to Atlantica—then they could swing on by the Coliseum and he could try to convince Vincent to come back to Traverse Town so they could refuel and Cid could check for damage from Heartless ships.

There was just one thing he hadn't been expecting. "…Cloud, come look at this and tell me if you see it too."

Cloud got up from his seat and came to stand beside him. "What are we looking at?"

Leon pointed at the blob he'd been staring at that had been steadily getting closer. "That thing."

The blond dipped his head and squinted a little. "…It looks like a whale. Don't worry; it's probably just a meteor or something."

"Oh, yay, it's just a meteor," the older man mumbled, rolling his eyes. He frowned as the 'meteor' got closer, though. "…No, I think it's a whale." He paused, then turned. "Sora, does this look like a whale?"

Sora looked up from his and blinked innocently. "…Looks like a whale to me."

"…Would it be wrong to shoot a whale with lasers?" Leon wondered thoughtfully.

"It hasn't done anything to us yet," Cloud pointed out.

The brunet tilted his head a little. "That's true…"

Then the whale was opening its mouth and making sucking motions, drawing the ship in with its surprisingly strong suction.

"OH GOD! SHOOT IT! SHOOT IT!"

Sora let out a yelp and leapt to the lasers, shooting frantically, but that only seemed to make the whale angrier.

Just before they were sucked into the whale's mouth, Leon turned to give the blond swordsman a glare. "'It hasn't done anything to us yet!' I'll kill you."

"This was _not_ my fault!" Cloud exclaimed, before the whale closed its mouth around them and they were surrounded by darkness.


	14. Monstro: Surprisingly Squeamish

Author's Note: I can't tell whether I am disappointed with this chapter or not. Sorry if it's not what you were expecting, guys; I… have never actually _played_ Monstro. I always get my sister to do it because she is more awesome than I, and I don't even stay in the room while she does it. So just bear with me.

Monstro: Surprisingly Squeamish

"Sora. Sora! Wake up!" Leon's brows furrowed together worriedly. The younger boy had been standing at the lasers, and had been thrown to the ground in the crash—and had landed on his head. He sincerely hoped that Sora's skull was as thick as he thought it was. "_Sora!_"

Luckily, the younger boy groaned quietly and slowly blinked his eyes open. "Nngh… What hit me…?"

"The floor," the older brunet replied, unable to help a small, relieved smile.

Cloud leaned over both of them and crossed his arms. "In the floor's defense, you hit it first."

"…Things must be bad. Cloud's making jokes," Sora mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his head. "What happened?"

"We were swallowed by a whale!" Goofy answered. "And we've been trying to wake ya up ever since we crashed!"

"So we better go and look for a way back out!" Donald added grumpily. "We've lost enough time as it is!"

The Keyblade wielder blinked, then scowled. "Yeah, I'm sorry that my losing consciousness has taken up some of your precious time."

"Alright, alright!" Leon cut in, glaring at both of them. "We _don't_ need a repeat of Deep Jungle! Okay? The ship is still in one piece and I want to keep it that way. Now if you _don't_ want to find yourselves stuffed in a storage bin, I suggest you put aside your differences and get the hell out!"

There was not even an attempt at trying to be cool. Sora and Donald ran out of the ship.

Goofy frowned. "Would ya really stuff them in a storage bin, Leon?"

The brunet snorted and crossed his arms. "No. But they don't need to know that."

"You're surprisingly devious sometimes," Cloud commented, smirking, as he made his way out of the ship as well.

"Shut up." Leon paused on the steps, glancing around uneasily at the twitching walls and floor, and feeling his own stomach churn uncomfortably. "…Maybe I should stay here and check the ship. Just in case we actually sustained some damage."

The Naïve Trio blinked up at him innocently before Sora smiled. "Okay! We wouldn't want to fly out with a busted laser or something, anyway!"

Cloud watched them go in disbelief, then looked up at the brunet with even more incredulity. "You already checked the ship when it was my turn to try and wake up Sora!"

"…Well… Maybe I missed something on the scanners," Leon replied, looking back at the control panel.

The blond raised an eyebrow, then took a glance at their surroundings as well. After a moment, he smirked. "You're _squeamish,_ aren't you?"

"_No!_" the older man snarled quickly, unaware of the light dusting of blush across his cheeks. "Why would I be squeamish? I've fought at the Coliseum before! There's more bloodshed there!"

"…You _are_ squeamish," the swordsman concluded, smiling in a decidedly unsettling manner.

Leon took a step back warily. "Why would I be squeamish of a giant whale? I could have cleaved it in half with my gunblade!"

"…Right. Are you sure you wouldn't rather stab into the soft, spongy flesh in its stomach? I'm sure that would be exceedingly more satisfying as revenge for swallowing us." Cloud grinned as the brunet shuddered in distaste. "Who knows? Maybe we'll even find the blow spout and you can crawl out and stab it in the eye."

"Knock it off! That's gross! And animal cruelty!" the brunet added quickly.

The younger man chuckled. "You just said it was gross."

"And animal cruelty!"

"A whale is a fish."

Leon scowled. "Actually, a whale is a mammal. Either way, _fish are still animals, you moron!_"

Cloud frowned. "No way?"

"_Yes,_ fish are animals," the brunet snapped, placing his hands on his hips as he glared at him. "So are hippos. God, it's like talking to Sora after he's had an energy drink… FINE. I'll come," he snarled, walking down the steps of the gummi ship. He suppressed a shudder as the "ground" squished beneath his boots, then began in a general… Sora-ish direction.

The blond purred. "Now say that with more feeling."

"What, 'I'll co—'" Leon stopped in his tracks and narrowed his eyes. "…I swear, Cloud, I'll rip it off."

Cloud frowned again as the brunet began walking away. "You're no fun."

"I'm not here to be fun. I'm actually here to be no fun at all." The older man grunted quietly and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Stupid perverted _moron._"

"I'm not a moron!"

"But you _are_ stupid and perverted?"

"…Touché."

Leon frowned as he saw something familiar, then began walking a little faster. "Is that what I think it is?"

"If you think that that's a gummi ship, then yes, it is," Cloud replied, frowning. "How many do you think this fish has swallowed?"

"It's not a fish—Whatever," the brunet sighed, rolling his eyes. As they drew closer to the small gummi ship, though, he began taking it in with a critical eye, just as Cid had taught him.

It was a well built ship, he supposed. Even though it was small, maybe only big enough for two people (four, if they were all midgets), the gummis were put together with care and precision. The lasers were small, also. Frowning, he moved closer to examine them more carefully. They were small, but sprayed more like a shotgun, and with more power. What it lacked in firepower, though, it made up for in shielding. …He was sure that if he tweaked it a bit, though, he could make the aiming of the lasers more manageable and still have the shielding at full strength…

"Pinocchio? Is that you?"

Leon turned his head sharply at the voice, then tilted it a little as his eyes landed on an older gentleman with white hair and a thick mustache. He was wearing a leather apron, so he figured that the man was an engineer of some sort, and he immediately pegged him as the builder of the gummi ship. Nodding to it slightly, he asked, "Is this yours?"

The man nodded. "Yes. Are you friends of Sora? He mentioned that you might be coming this way."

"Oh. Uh, yeah. I'm Leon, this is Cloud," the brunet replied, pointing vaguely in the swordsman's direction.

"Nice to meet you, considering the circumstances. I'm Geppetto; my son Pinocchio is running around here somewhere. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were kind enough to go look for him."

Cloud snorted. "They would be." When he noticed a glare being sent his way via gunblader, he took a step back and covered his nose.

Leon gave him a few moments more of his angry attention before looking back at Geppetto. "This is a nice gummi ship. Did you build it yourself?"

"Yes. Pinocchio just brought me this navigation gummi." Geppetto looked it over carefully. "It looks like it's in decent shape. We may get out of here yet."

"Well, if you need any parts, I'm sure we have some spares in our gummi ship," the brunet offered. "And I could rewire your lasers so you have more control over the aim." He paused as he heard the sounds of battle—the clang of metal, the sound of magic. "…Cloud, make sure they don't give the whale indigestion. I do _not_ want to be spewed out."

Cloud sighed and nodded obediently, trudging toward the sounds of battle. As he passed, however, he muttered, "Squeamish."

Leon's eyebrow twitched. However, he would not rise to the bait, so he gritted his teeth and waited for him to leave before turning back to continue the conversation with the old man.

-x-x-x-

"Hey, Sora, I—WHAT THE HELL IS THAT." Cloud scowled. "It looks like a mutated wood stove."

"What's a wood stove?" Sora asked in confusion, only to yelp before he dove for the ground, barely dodging one of the Heartless's tentacles. "Ack!"

"A little help!" Donald snapped, zapping the Heartless in the head.

The blond sighed. "Is there anything I need to know before I cleave through it?"

"Pinocchio's inside!" Goofy replied.

"Okay. …THERE'S SOMEBODY IN THERE?"

Donald began hopping up and down and shaking a fist at him. "That's why we're asking for help!" He let out a squawk as the Heartless suddenly expelled a mouthful of poisonous gas at him and scrambled out of the way.

Cloud grabbed his sword and eyed the Heartless warily; he didn't want to accidentally hurt Pinocchio when he killed it. When Goofy began running circles around the Heartless to distract it from Sora and Donald as they attacked with magic, however, he just decided to charge and hope for the best.

…Well, maybe he'd pray alongside his hoping, too.

-x-x-x-

"—And then you twist these two wires together, and the lasers share power with the shielding based upon the amount of heartless ships the gummi ship senses," Leon finished, then placed the casing back over the circuitry.

"You're mighty clever, Leon. I never would have been able to do that myself," Geppetto commented.

The brunet smiled a little and opened his mouth, only to be cut off by some girlish screams. "…I'll be right back," he stated, then turned and began sprinting toward their own gummi ship. When the girlish screaming continued, he grew worried, but only until Sora and something wooden ran shrieking past him. He slowed to a stop in confusion, then turned to look over his shoulder. "…Sora?"

"It was SO gross oh my _Gawd!_" Sora wailed, not skipping a beat as he continued sprinting away.

The older man blinked. "…What was gross?"

"Well," Cloud began, stomping up to and past him. "Sora got it in his head to stab the bubble. I told him not to. He must die."

Leon blinked again. "…What is that yellow-brown goo you're covered in?"

"Sora saw something and poked it with his Keyblade," Goofy explained, walking up beside him with Donald. "It spewed some sorta goo, so Sora jumped outta the way. Cloud was standin' right behind him, so he got a face full of goo instead."

"We told him not to touch it," Donald grouched, crossing his arms in irritation.

The brunet seriously wondered whether he wanted to know anything else, then sighed and asked, "…And… the little wooden puppet?"

"That's Pinocchio," Donald replied.

"Geppetto's son? But I thought—You know what, never mind." Leon shook his head. "I just don't want to know." He jumped as he heard a rumbling sound, the squishy ground trembling beneath his feet, before he honestly began freaking out (inwardly, of course; he'd never be able to live it down if anyone saw him actually panicking about gurgling whales). So, taking a deep breath, he turned and began making his way back to their gummi ship. "Get on the gummi ship or I'm leaving you all here."

He'd admit it now; he was squeamish. And he point blank refused to be outside the protective barrier of the gummi ship if the whale was going to puke.

-x-x-x-

"If you touch me, I swear, I'll cut off your arm."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy couldn't help but stifle their laughter at the appalled expression on the blond's face. Cloud, still covered in the somewhat potent smelling goo, stared at the brunet in horror.

"…You _won't_ let me take my clothes off, you _won't_ let me wash my hair in the sink, and you _won't _let me use any of the towels to try and rub it off, and _now_ you won't let me touch you?"

"I _don't_ want you walking around the ship naked—that's just awkward. I _don't_ want you to wash your hair in the sink—the water is recycled and who knows what sort of grossness is in that _whale slime._ I _don't_ want you to use the towels to rub it off—I'll just have to throw the towels away because I'll know where they've been and I don't know if that stuff washes out and if it doesn't, I don't want to find out. And I don't want you to _touch_ me because you're covered in _brownish yellow goo._ That is _gross._" Leon glared, daring him to try and touch him—and possibly lose an arm in the process.

Sora blinked innocently. "Why do you want to keep trying to touch him, anyway, Cloud?"

"…Well, we've made it clear that you're some sort of simian human being and I will never be able to catch you to maul you and if I tree you, you won't come down. Bothering Donald and Goofy would bring no satisfaction. I want someone to suffer with me. Therefore, the only option left is Leon," Cloud explained, still glaring at him.

"How is it _my_ fault that _you_ got covered in goo?" Leon raised an eyebrow skeptically, then smirked and leaned back in his seat. "Unless… you want someone to share your squeamishness?"

The blond stared at him in confusion. "…What?"

"I'm sorry, Cloud; I can't help you with that, then. Once the whale sneezed us out, I had no reason to be squeamish. _You,_ on the other hand… are covered in whale gook. I cannot be squeamish at that; only amused."

Cloud could only gawk, still confused—and a little annoyed that he wasn't getting a bit more sympathy.

…Then again, considering the abuse Leon took in Deep Jungle, this was probably karma coming back to bite him in the ass for treating him like a flower.

-x-x-x-

"Hey, I didn't expect you guys back so—_ew!_" Yuffie covered her mouth and stared at the blond's still slightly sticky body in horror, then turned, wrapping her arms in her stomach and gagging. "Gack! _HCK!_ Ghhhh…!"

Leon sighed and rubbed her back momentarily, then began ushering her toward Cid's shop. "Come on, Yuffie. I have a story to tell you about a giant whale that you'll never believe. Also, I brought you guys presents."

"Oh my gosh presents!" she exclaimed, flailing upward, and the brunet noticed sourly that she looked fine now.

Well, until she turned to rush back to the gummi ship, saw Cloud again, and resumed gagging. So apparently she was just fine as long as she wasn't looking at him.

Sighing, Leon tossed his key to his room at the hotel at him. "Go clean yourself. If you're lucky, Aerith will help you."

Cloud grunted in annoyance as he caught the metal flung at him, but began toward the hotel nonetheless.

Yuffie waited until she was sure he was gone before popping right back up and getting in the brunet's face. "I WANT MY PRESENTS."

Leon sighed and patted her on the head, rolling his eyes in frustration. "Okay, just—"

"Pinocchio! Geppetto! You're okay!" Sora exclaimed joyously, and the gunblader nearly gave himself whiplash turning around.

Pinocchio smiled. "Yeah! I even got to shoot the enemy ships with the lasers while my father was driving!"

"How'd those work for you, by the way?" Leon asked, looking at the older man.

Geppetto crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Well, they were extremely powerful, but what are we going to do with the ship now? This world looks like a nice place for us to settle down, but what if we need to leave again?"

Smiling a little, the brunet replied, "Cid can just put your gummi ship in storage. If you need it again, just tell him, and he'll get it back out."

"That sounds like the best idea for now."

Yuffie tried to wait patiently, but even standing in one spot for more than seventeen seconds was hard. Whining quietly, she tugged at her foster brother's jacket. "Preeeeseeeeents!"

"Yuffie, I'm a little busy right now!" Leon patted her head despite his annoyance and turned his head back to the puppet-maker. "Have you guys got a place to stay? I'd just gotten a little house cleared out just before we left."

"I helped Aerith clean it!" the ninja exclaimed, flailing her arm over her head in a student's 'pick me, pick me' manner. "It's ready to move into!"

"Oh, great. Yuffie, why don't you show them where it is?" Leon suggested, pointedly ignoring her glare that clearly said 'you-bastard-I-want-my-presents-and-I-will-HAVE-THEM!' "I'll go tell Cid to put their ship in storage, and you can come back by the shop to see your present."

Her eyes lit up, and with a greedy 'ohmygosh _presents,_' she hurriedly led the older man and his puppet son away.

"Wow. You really let her just hang all over you, don't you, Leon?" Sora commented after a moment.

"…With Yuffie, she doesn't really give you much of a choice," Leon deadpanned, then sighed and turned to go back to the ship. "Why don't you guys go make sure that Yuffie settles them in, then come back to Cid's shop so we can get some things and then head out again."

"I vote we leave immediately after because Riku was acting really weird and I think he needs help!"

The gunblader blinked, then sighed again, deciding he'd just get the story later. "Fine, whatever." He watched Sora scamper away with the King's attendants trying to catch up, then clambered back into the gummi ship to grab the giant metallic box full of shiny orbs and the small bag containing Aerith's bracelet and Cid's smokes. Then, he made his way into Cid's shop, pausing to take in the world's overall appearance. Everything looked okay…

"Ya better be here t' buy somethin' or I'm gonna shove my spear up yer ass!"

Leon snorted and set his packages on the counter. "If you did that, I'm afraid Cloud might be offended."

Cid poked his head out of the storage room and squinted at him. "Leon? Ya back already?"

"Yes. I have presents."

"…I don't want nothin'," the mechanic stated, ducking back into the store room.

Leon rolled his eyes. "I got you some cigarettes from Agrabah."

"Hey, they got the good shit!"

"You're welcome," the brunet replied, tossing the package at him. "'The good shit' is expensive."

"Psh, with all the munny ya get from destroyin' Heartless, it's a wonder ya ain't King of the Worlds," Cid muttered, then frowned when he saw the giant metal box. "Th' hell is that?"

"Yuffie's present."

"I WANT MY PRESENT!" Yuffie roared, throwing the door open. She blinked as it banged against the wall, then smiled bashfully under the twin glares she was given and gently closed it again.

"…There's a hole in m' wall," Cid growled.

The ninja smiled brightly. "I'll fix it! It'll look good as new! You'll never be able to tell it was even there!" She gasped as she saw the large box and pointed at it. "Is that my present?"

Leon honestly thought about teasing her and telling her that it wasn't, but he was afraid her heart might pop with all of the excitement it was getting if he did. So, he nodded, pushing the box toward her. "Here's your present."

Yuffie squealed and leapt at it, hurriedly prying open the top. Once she had a glimpse of what was inside, however, she gasped and covered her mouth. Leon was almost afraid she didn't like it, but then she started cackling gleefully and began stuffing the shiny orbs into bag. "MATERIA! IT IS MINE!"

Cid snorted. "Well, fuck, Leon. We thought she'd forgotten all 'bout it. Now she'll be searchin' _everybody_ fer more."

Leon blinked at him in confusion, then scowled and slammed the box closed, making her squeak in surprise. "Yuffie. This is a conditional gift. If I hear that you start searching other people for… material… or whatever you called it, I'm going to take it away, okay?"

She frowned. "B-b-b-but—"

"B-b-b-but nothing. Promise me you won't search other people—_and _promise that you won't steal from people. Not just this stuff. You won't steal _anything_ from people."

"But how will I keep my awesome ninja skills?" Yuffie exclaimed, outraged. When the brunet's glare only darkened, she immediately backed down, quietly promising, "I won't steal from anyone. …Unless they agree to helping me with training."

"Good. These are yours then."

"Cid, do you have any—oh, hi, Leon. Cid, do you have any of that stuff you use to get the grease off your hands? I think I may need some to get… Cloud's… clothes clean," Aerith stated, trying to choose her words carefully. "Please."

"Yeah, sure, jus' a minute."

"Thank you, Cid." Aerith smiled sweetly, only to squeak quietly in surprise when she found something held up in front of her face. "…Oh! That's beautiful, Leon! Thank you!" she exclaimed, once she realized it was a bracelet rimmed with gold and white, pearl-like jewels. "But you didn't have to get me anything."

Leon smiled. "I wanted to. Besides, I had to get _something_ to appease you when you found out I bought Cid some cigarettes."

She gasped quietly. "_Leon!_ You're just enabling him!"

"…Well, the senile old man has stress," the gunblader began, only to quickly duck—and just barely avoided being clubbed by a wrench. Knowing that Cid might still go after him, he added, "I'll be outside if you need me."

About ten minutes later, Sora, Donald, and Goofy appeared, and Sora began tugging on his arm impatiently. "How long do we have to wait to leave again? Where are we going? Are there a lot of Heartless there? Will your clothes change again?"

"We have to wait until Cloud's clothes are clean, at least," Leon answered, swatting at him. "Stop that."

"So where are we going then? What's it called?"

"It's a place called _Atlantica,_ now stop that."

"It sounds girly."

Leon sighed and leaned his face in his hand. "Let me assure you that it's not."

"Are your clothes gonna change again? …I couldn't help but notice you weren't wearing any underwear in Agrabah, and I'd rather have some warning beforehand," Sora explained, obediently letting go of his arm.

The gunblader couldn't help a blush at that. "Sorry; I have no control over what the magic of the gummi ship will do. But, considering what Atlantic is, _all_ of us are going to have an outfit change."

"Oh. Will I still look cool?"

Leon did not point out that he did not look cool now with his red jumpsuit and big yellow shoes. It wasn't that he looked ugly or something; it was just that the jumpsuit was reminiscent of what a child would wear, so he could only ever look cute—sort of like a baby duck.

Well, a regular baby duck, anyway—nothing like Donald, at least.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were in for a shock when they got to Atlantica.


End file.
